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AI not sentient, elephants not persons, crayfish invasion, female update, Tom Hanks, sex starter kit, the usual drollery
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Published Tuesday, June 14, 2022 @ 4:00 PM EDT
Jun 14 2022

Things change
Things change.

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No, Google's AI is not sentient. Happy the elephant may be sentient, but a court says she's not a person. As one of the X-Men once remarked, "Stinks to be sentient, sometimes, don't it?"

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Cloned crayfish accidentally created in an aquarium are conquering the world. Let's just hope the marbled crayfish never sets its sights on humanity. If they do, we may never be able to stop them.

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How zoology got female animals all wrong. Female animals are just as promiscuous, competitive, aggressive and dynamic as their male counterparts and play an equal role in driving evolutionary change...

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Tom Hanks explains it all.

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Tom might have problems explaining this: Mother and teenage son create 'first time sex starter kit'.

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Dr. Oz says he'll fight to end illegal immigration. A business owned by his family, in which he is a shareholder, faced the largest fine in ICE history for hiring unauthorized workers.

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Coffee brands with the worst ingredients. As long as they have caffeine, I'm ok.

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A three-hour long solar flare erupted from the sun. Impressive video; fortunately, it only caused isolated radio blackouts.

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Wingnuts helpfully threaten to kill police after arrests of neo-Nazis who planned pride event riot.

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Over 100m Americans urged to stay indoors over extreme heat and humidity. Heat wave expected to settle over states from Gulf coast to Great Lakes and east to Carolinas with 100°F temperatures in some cities.

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No, Marjorie Taylor Greene, transgender people aren't causing the tampon shortage. ...the real issue can be traced back to an increase in the cost of cotton and plastic used to produce tampons. These materials, also used for masks and other medical supplies, have been in particularly high demand since the pandemic. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has added another challenging layer to the problem, as both countries are key exporters of the materials.

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Miscellany:

Birthdays:

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On this date in:

  • 1775 - American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army was established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Armed Forces.
  • 1777 - The Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Act of 1777 adopting the Stars and Stripes as the Flag of the United States.
  • 1822 - Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society.
  • 1900 - Hawaii became a United States territory.
  • 1949 - Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rode a V-2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first mammal and first monkey in space.
  • 1951 - UNIVAC I was dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
  • 1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill into law that placed the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
  • 1959 - Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.

Today is:

Army's Birthday, Call Your Doctor Day, Family History Day, Flag Day, International Bath Day, National Bourbon Day, National Strawberry Shortcake Day, Observed annually on June 14th, Own Your Share of America Day, Pause for the Pledge Day, Pop Goes The Weasel Day, World Blood Donor Day, and World Pet Memorial Day

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Comments, tweets and observations:

If you don't think Donald Trump will end up in prison, remember, nobody thought he would end up in the White House either.
-Middle Age Riot

If Trump was arrested, and led away in cuffs, and it was televised by the US Gov't., live on Pay Per View, it's possible we could eliminate the National Debt.
-Duty to Warn


Categories: AI, Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Climate change, Coffee, Heat Wave, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mehmet Oz, Neo Nazis, Rudy Giuliani, Sentience, Sex, Solar flares, Tampons, Tom Hanks, Weather


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Shortage of workers, patio furniture; Covid resurgence; UFOs, lightning, and grasshoppers, oh my!
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Published Thursday, July 08, 2021 @ 1:16 AM EDT
Jul 08 2021

(KGB Report will return on Monday, July 12.)

Job openings in restaurants and hotels were slightly higher in May while the number of people quitting jobs in those places also inched up, to just over 700,000. Overall, 3.6 million people quit their jobs in May. That's down from a record four million in April but still a high level of turnover.

There's a shortage of patio furniture. Really.

Earth may not be in any danger from asteroids. Chinese researchers to use rockets to deflect them. At China's National Space Science Center, researchers found in simulations that 23 Long March 5 rockets hitting simultaneously could deflect a large asteroid from its original path by a distance 1.4 times the Earth's radius.

17 tips to live comfortably off just a Social Security check. These articles are written by kids in their 20s who don't fully appreciate the potential effects of what they're suggesting. One's perspective is a bit different when you reach the age that classic radio stations start playing "oldies" first released when your kids were in high school.

New UC Berkeley study suggests cell phones sharply increase tumor risk. Researchers took a comprehensive look at statistical findings from 46 different studies around the globe and found that the use of a cell phone for more than 1,000 hours, or about 17 minutes a day over a ten year period, increased the risk of tumors by 60 percent.

Pandemic Potpourri:

Moderna starts human trials of an mRNA-based flu shot. Moderna says it hopes to eventually create combination vaccines that could protect people against flu, COVID-19, and other respiratory infections with one shot.

About 160 Covid-19 infections are linked to a Texas church youth camp- including cases of the Delta variant. Of the roughly 160 people infected, six (about 3.7%) had been vaccinated.

COVID and the brain: researchers zero in on how damage occurs.COVID and the brain: researchers zero in on how damage occurs. Also: Fitbit data points to lingering physical changes for some Covid-19 sufferers. On average, it took 79 days for the elevated resting heart rate of people with covid-19 symptoms to drop back to normal, the study found.

Delta variant slams Missouri as ICUs fill and ventilators run low. This should probably be in the "Crazytown" section. As Alex Haley said, "Either you deal with what is the reality, or you can be sure that the reality is going to deal with you." (More reality quotes)

Amid uptick in cases, Oklahoma sees high hospital admission rate for COVID-19 patients. Across the state, nearly 28% of people who have had a positive COVID-19 test in the last two weeks were admitted to hospital...

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From Crazytown:

Trump sues Twitter, Facebook, Google and CEOs Dorsey, Zuckerberg, Pichai. The three related lawsuits, filed in federal court in Florida, allege the tech giants have violated plaintiffs' First Amendments rights. Of course, if Trump or his lawyers had actually read the Constitution, he'd know the First Amendment only addresses the government infringing upon speech, not social networks whose user agreements you violated by inciting an insurrection. Anyway, he's using it as another fundraising ploy.

Ivanka Trump is probably next on the chopping block: former federal prosecutor. Experts say the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is likely looking into "consulting fees" paid to Ivanka despite her having been a full-time employee of the Trump Organization.

"Fleet of 10 UFOs" spotted hovering near International Space Station on NASA live stream.

Book says Trump praised Hitler during same trip that he disparaged U.S. war dead.

Giuliani's law license in Washington suspended.

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KGB's daily agglomeration of stuff I find interesting:

Among other things, today is

On this date:

Birthdays

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Miscellany

Wanna delay aging? Get castrated, scientists say. "It's not an ideal solution." Ya think?

Beating a literally dead horse: 'Night of the Animated Dead' to adapt zombie classic. I maintain George Romero's original 1968 classic is the only zombie movie you need to see. Everything else is egregiously derivative.

Grasshoppers invade western US in largest swarms in 35 years, plaguing farmers and ranchers.

More than 710,000 lightning strikes in Western Canada in 15 hours as unprecedented heatwave and wildfires hit British Columbia and Alberta.

12-foot python escapes inside Louisiana's largest mall.

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Categories: Adolf Hitler, Astronomy, Climate change, Covid-19, Donald Trump, Economics, Health, NASA, Rudy Giuliani, Social Security


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Collapses, shortages, excess heat, Democratic burritos, hailstone margaritas
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Published Wednesday, June 30, 2021 @ 12:17 AM EDT
Jun 30 2021

Condo owners in Surfside building were facing assessments for $15 million worth of repairs. Payments were set to begin a week after the building's deadly fall.

Gas stations are running out of gas ahead of the holiday weekend. It's the shortage of tank truck drivers coupled with rising demand that is causing supply chain bottlenecks and shortages. Experts say a growing number of stations are reporting that they are simply not able to get gas delivered- at any price.

Hotter than the human body can handle: Pakistan city broils in world’s highest temperatures (126°F) (Video)

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From Crazytown:

70 percent

Blame Democrats for the rise in Chipotle burrito prices. (Video)

Out-of-practice Trump forgets to strand rally crowd in parking lot. (Andy Borowitz)

What underlies the G.O.P. commitment to ignorance? Closed-mindedness and ignorance have become core conservative values, and those who reject these values are the enemy, no matter what they may have done to serve the country.

Trump Organization sues New York City for closing golf course after January 6 riots. That could be a big mistake.

Tucker Carlson says 'Biden administration is spying' on him. The television personality offered no additional evidence to support his claim, which drew scrutiny from several users on social media.

Giuliani son gets no votes from Republican leaders in bid for New York governor. Andrew Giuliani, who has traded off his surname, embarrassed by poll that indicates Lee Zeldin will challenge Andrew Cuomo.

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KGB's daily agglomeration of stuff I find interesting:

Among other things, today is

On this date:

Birthdays

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Miscellany

A record-breaking hailstone fell near San Antonio. A bigger one went into margaritas.

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Categories: Climate change, Covid-19, Democrats, Donald Trump, Environment, Fox News, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, Shortages, Superman, Surfside collapse, The Big Lie, Tucker Carlson


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Rudy raided, Bugs Bunny, Betty White, assorted potential catastrophes...
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Published Friday, April 30, 2021 @ 1:56 AM EDT
Apr 30 2021

Feds raid Giuliani's home, office, escalating criminal probe. Federal agents raided Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan home and office Wednesday, seizing computers and cellphones in a major escalation of the Justice Department's investigationin a major escalation of the Justice Department's investigation into the business dealings of former President Donald Trump's personal lawyer.

America is running low on chicken. Blame covid-19, a sandwich craze and huge appetite for wings.

Turn up the thermostat. living or working in a cool environment for extended periods can lower core body temperature. That decreases metabolic rate – how fast we burn calories – and commonly causes weight gain.

On the other hand... Phoenix could become uninhabitable due to climate change. Also, Declassified satellite images show glaciers are melting faster than ever

The link between 'The West Wing' and Biden's address. Viewers notice remarkable similarity to a plan set out by Martin Sheen's character in long-running political drama.

Jimmy Kimmel gently tells MyPillow's Mike Lindell he thinks Lindell's old crack habit made him paranoid.

Flu has disappeared worldwide during the COVID pandemic. The public health measures that slow the spread of the novel coronavirus work really well on influenza.

FDA moves to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. "Banning menthol—the last allowable flavor—in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars will help save lives, particularly among those disproportionately affected by these deadly products," Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock said in a statement. "With these actions, the FDA will help significantly reduce youth initiation, increase the chances of smoking cessation among current smokers, and address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products."

Phasers on stun? US investigating possible mysterious directed energy attack near White House.

Well, this is disburbing: The clockwork universe: is free will an illusion? A growing chorus of scientists and philosophers argue that free will does not exist. Could they be right?

Physicists prove that the imaginary part of quantum mechanics really exists! The exclamation point is theirs, not mine. Still, scientists discover imaginary numbers aren't imaginary.

More good news: Omega-3 fish oil supplements linked with heart rhythm disorder. Omega-3 supplements are associated with an increased likelihood of developing atrial fibrillation in people with high blood lipids. That's the finding of a study published today in European Heart Journal – Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

Earth has been knocked off its axis over the last 25 years, changing the locations of the north and south poles.

Andy Borowitz: Explosive video reveals Biden plot to use his power to improve living conditions

I have the sinking suspicion I'm cheugy.

San Francisco sound engineer accidentally dosed with LSD while cleaning 1960s radio equipment.

Man cooking up ramen in a Speedo accidentally shoots himself in the nuts with 20 bottle rockets.

99-year-old Betty White's secret to a long and happy life is junk food. "She eats crap," her former Hot in Cleveland co-star Jane Leeves told UsMagazine.com in 2011. “She eats Red Vines, hot dogs, French fries, and Diet Coke. If that's key, maybe she's preserved because of all the preservatives.”

It's Bugs Bunny Day. On this date in 1938, a preliminary version of Bugs (named Happy) appeared in Porky's Hare Hunt.

Among other things, today is Adopt a Shelter Pet Day, Childcare Professionals Day, Day of the Child, Hairstyle Appreciation Day, International Jazz Day, Lag B'omer, National Animal Advocacy Day, National Arbor Day, National Bubble Tea Day, National Hairball Awareness Day, National Honesty Day, National Military Brats Day, National Mr. Potato Head Day, National Oatmeal Cookie Day, National PrepareAthon! Day, National Raisin Day, National Sarcoidosis Day, and Spank Out Day.

Have a great weekend! See you Monday!


Categories: Andy Borowitz, Astronomy, Betty White, Bugs Bunny, Cheugy, Chicken shortage, Climate change, Covid-19, FDA, Health, Jimmy Kimmel, Joe Biden, Mike Lindell, Phoenix, Porky Pig, Quantum mechanics, Rudy Giuliani, The West Wing


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Star Trek, Space Force, Marilyn, Mount St. Helens, NASA says don't worry...
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Published Monday, May 18, 2020 @ 12:31 AM EDT
May 18 2020

Today is Monday, May 18, the 139th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. 227 days remain until the end of the year.

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Among other things, today is HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, I Love Reese's® Day, International Museum Day, Mother Whistler Day. National Cheese Soufflé Day, National No Dirty Dishes Day, National Visit Your Relatives Day, Send an Electronic Greeting Card Day, and World AIDS Vaccine Day.

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Supreme Court debacle: On this date in 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that the "separate but equal" doctrine was constitutional.

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On this date in 1933 as part of the New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally owned corporation created by congressional charter to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression.

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On this day 70 years ago, St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Tommy Glaviano made errors on three consecutive grounders in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the Brooklyn Dodgers a 9-8 victory. At least he could tell himself it wasn't, you know, something people would remember two decades into the next century or anything

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On this day in 1962, A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy took place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight was Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Happy Birthday." (Video)

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Tina Fey is 50 today. Click here for quotes by Tina Fey.

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On this date in 1980, Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupted, directly killing 57 people and releasing thermal energy equivalent to 26 megatons of TNT, over 1,700 times larger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. (Video)

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Ever listen to Trump ramble and wonder what he was asked about in the first place? Now it's a game you can play at home! From The Daily Show. (Video)

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This just about sums it up... (Video)

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Inside Trump's coronavirus meltdown. Again and again, the story that emerged is of a president who ignored increasingly urgent intelligence warnings from January, dismisses anyone who claims to know more than him and trusts no one outside a tiny coterie, led by his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner- the property developer who Trump has empowered to sideline the best-funded disaster response bureaucracy in the world. "It is as though we knew for a fact that 9/11 was going to happen for months, did nothing to prepare for it and then shrugged a few days later and said, 'Oh well, there's not much we can do about it,'" says Gregg Gonsalves, a public health scholar at Yale University. "Trump could have prevented mass deaths and he didn't."

Meanwhile, on Earth 2: Eric Trump accuses Democrats of "milking" coronavirus lockdowns to win the election.

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Borowitz: Trump says nation will have vaccine before it sees his taxes.

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Obama openly criticizes Trump administration's coronavirus response. (Video)

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'A lot to be hopeful for': Crisis seen as historic, not another Great Depression.

Related: Drastic makeover looms for world's most followed stock index. "The S&P committee is going to have to decide how long they want to wait before ditching COVID-damaged companies..."

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As cable TV fades, fearing 'the end of Comedy Central.' The network that made the careers of Dave Chappelle, Stephen Colbert and Amy Schumer has laid off top executives while looking to make shows that are cheaper to produce.

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Space Force launches robotic X-37B space plane on new mystery mission. While the X-37B's exact purpose is a secret, Space Force officials have revealed that the craft is packing numerous experiments on this trip to test out different systems in space. Some of those experiments include a small satellite called FalconSat-8, two NASA payloads designed to study the effects of radiation on different materials as well as seeds to grow food, and a power-beaming experiment using microwave energy. (story includes video)

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ViacomCBS, which owns Paramount and the Star Trek® franchise, should sue Trump for using the phrase "warp speed" for the vaccination projects and the delta shield emblem as the core of its Space Force logo. Not for intellectual property violations, but for damaging the value of its brand via association with a malignant miscreant.

And speaking of Star Trek, seven years ago today my wife and I saw "Star Trek: Into Darkness," by far the worst Star Trek film ever made.

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Meteor caught on doorbell camera. A Summerville, SC family caught a meteor entering Earth's atmosphere on their doorbell video camera early Thursday morning. The video, provided by the Giltner family, was taken around 12:42 a.m. (video)

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Trump 'spiritual adviser' Paula White imitates queen bee dance to declare end to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Expert's COVID-19 swimming pool study: chlorine no safety guarantee, high-level controls the way back to the water.

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Here's what a solar minimum is and why NASA says it's nothing to worry about. Some say the current cycle could be a repeat of the Dalton Minimum, which was one of the most extreme weather periods in history. The Dalton minimum was a period that lasted over three solar cycles from 1790-1830 and resulted in heavy snows, deep frost and general cooling around the globe. NASA scientists say there's no mini ice age on the horizon, because planetary warming due to climate change will offset the cycle. There. Feel better?

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Offered without comment: (Video)

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Thoughts of the day:

Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.
-G.K. Chesterton

The written word will soon disappear and we'll no longer be able to read good prose like we used to could. This prospect does not gentle my thoughts or tranquil me toward the future.
-James Thurber

There are few things in life harder to find and more important to keep than love. Well, love and a birth certificate.
-Barack Obama

We can usually recognize the consequence of our actions. It is the consequence of our inaction that gets confused with the inevitable.
-Robert Brault

The more you know, the sadder you get.
-Stephen Colbert

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I'm a sucker for rescue dogs to begin with, but this sweetheart tore my heart out. Thank goodness she found a loving home with a great mom dedicated to caring for special needs dogs. (Video)



Things are really rough out there.
Please consider donating to Feeding America
.


Categories: Andy Borowitz, Barack Obama, Climate change, Comedy Central, Covid-19, Daily Show, Donald Trump, Eric Trump, FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Meteors, Mount St. Helens, NASA, New Deal, Paula White, Rudy Giuliani, SCOTUS, Space Force, Star Trek, Supreme Court, Tennessee Valley Authority, The Sun, Tina Fey, Tommy Glaviano, Video, YouTube


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Can't anybody here play this game?
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Published Thursday, May 03, 2018 @ 4:43 AM EDT
May 03 2018

Perhaps Giuliani's paying back Trump for not making him secretary of state or leading the Department of Homeland Security.

Or perhaps he's contributing to what appears will be the President's main line of defense, incomptetent legal representation.

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KGB Report on the web will return on Monday. Follow KGB Report and my personal account on Facebook for frequent updates.

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Categories: Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, The Daily KGB Report


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