KGB Report

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We're off on Monday, Memorial Day. Have a great weekend! See you Tuesday.

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It was 55 years ago today.... (May 26, 1967)

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Baseless anti-trans theory about Uvalde shooting spreads online, touted by U.S. congressman. The photos that social media users are claiming show the shooter are actually of three different transgender women wearing skirts. Somehow related: 329 years later, last Salem 'witch' who wasn't is pardoned.

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CEO pay rose 17% in 2021 as profits soared. How else can they pay for their gasoline? (Average workers gained 4.4%; inflation is 7%.)

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Your pharmacist might be permanently out to lunch. Pharmacists in America are struggling, and many are leaving the profession. Over the next ten years, it is estimated that America will see a nationwide decline of at least two percent of its pharmacists, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

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Pennsylvania House votes against taking up gun bill after Texas killings. "Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between."-James Carville

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FDA-approved drug could combat middle-aged memory loss. GoodRx says the current formulation, currently approved for treating HIV, costs a little under $500/mo on average.

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Most dinosaurs were warm-blooded after all. So you can cross that one off your list.

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The photographic evidence presented in a lawsuit over fast-food burger sizes. I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked. If I ever received a burger that actually looked like on in the ads, I'd be suspicious.

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Viruses that were on hiatus during Covid are back- and behaving in unexpected ways. The pandemic-induced disruption of normal mixing patterns means we have far less recently acquired immunity... we haven't been generating the levels of antibodies that would normally be acquired through regular exposure.

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Trump must answer questions under oath in New York AG probe into business practices, appeals court says. The ruling noted that the Trumps at their depositions could invoke their constitutional right against self-incrimination in refusing to answer questions.

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Does the second amendment actually give you the right to own a gun?

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Like many Republicans, Governor Greg Abbott calls Texas school shooting a mental health issue, yet in April he slashed $211 million from the department that oversees mental health programs. Texas ranked last out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for overall access to mental health care, according to the 2021 State of Mental Health in America report.

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Why humans get less sleep than other primates. No cable tv. Also, we're measuring captive primates, not wild animals. How well could you sleep in a zoo? Related: Insomnia sufferers in England now have a prescription alternative to pills. Drilling down: An app that promotes sleep hygiene.

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The mystery of why so many lifelong smokers never get lung cancer may be solved. It's all in the genes.

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Tweets, observations, and diversions:

Stevie Nicks is 74 today and Pam Grier is 73.

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Friends and patients of the late Lawrence J. Nelson, MD... A memorial will be held Sunday, June 12 at noon at the George Irvin Green Funeral Home, 3511 Main Street, Munhall.

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Categories: Cancer, Covid-19, Dinosaurs, Donald Trump, FDA, Greg Abbott, Income inequality, McDonald's, Memory Loss, PA House, Pharmacists, Primates, Salem Witch Trials, Second Amendment, Sgt. Pepper, Sleep, Smoking, Uvalde school shooting, Viruses, Wendy's

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You mean pretending it's no longer a problem doesn't work? U.S. health officials say a third of people live in areas with so much virus they should consider masks indoors. Also: Long COVID: As much as 75% of hospital patients still not 'fully recovered'.

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Say it clearly: Pennsylvania Republicans just nominated a pro-Trump insurrectionist. (Washington Post gift article) Let's state this plainly: Pennsylvania Republicans just nominated a full-blown insurrectionist who intends to use the power of the office to ensure that, as long as he is governor, no Democratic presidential candidate wins his state again. He helped bus in Trump supporters and attended the rally on Jan. 6, 2021; as state senator he argued for the invalidation of Joe Biden's electors; and he's continued falsely claiming election fraud ever since.

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The baby formula shortage, explained: Abbott Nutrition's contaminated plant in Michigan; manufacturers miscalculated demand; more babies were born in 2022; US regulations for baby formula are so strict that most European formulas are illegal (even though European babies are fine). Also: FDA obliterates formula maker's defense of contamination linked to baby deaths. Also also: Urgent New York raw milk recall: New recalls are so bad, entire production lines were shut down.

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TV at unprecedented scale: How Dick Wolf rebounded to 198 hours of drama a season: "FBI," "FBI: Most Wanted," "FBI: International," "Chicago Fire," "Chicago P.D.," "Chicago Med," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU" and "Law & Order: Organized Crime."

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Bad Kitty: German town grounds cats to save rare birds. Authorities in the southwest German town of Walldorf have ordered some cat owners to keep their pets indoors until the end of August, to protect a rare bird, the crested lark, during its breeding season.

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Chief Justice John Roberts has just one chance to save the credibility of the high court. To alter the Roe precedent has the potential to catapult us into chaos. For the three branches of government to properly govern the one, the Supreme Court, has to be non-political.

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McDonald's, Wendy's accused of beefing up burgers in ads.

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Learning new things every day:

People infected by brain-altering cat parasite are more attractive, finds study.

The real reason people from history wore huge powdered wigs. Ick.

How to design a theme park (to take tons of your money). Beating Disney at its own game. Until Disney came up with the physical embodiment of the Star Wars universe.

Would cockroaches actually survive a nuclear apocalypse? "I've come back so many times. Someone once told me that after World War III, the only things that will still be around are cockroaches and Cher."-Cher

Migrating sea turtles don't really know where they're going. (Smithsonian Magazine) New research finds that many hawksbill turtles take meandering routes to reach foraging sites in the Indian Ocean. Maybe they're just not in a hurry.

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Tweets, observations, and diversions:

When a rabid anti-vaxxer like Eric Clapton has to cancel concerts after catching COVID-19, it's not irony or karma: it's science.
Sweet, hilarious science.
-Middle Age Riot

Little known fact: Chuck E. Cheese's full name is Charles Entertainment Cheese.

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Categories: Abbott Nutrition, Baby formula, Cats, Chuck E. Cheese, Cockroaches, Dick Wolf, Disney, Doug Mastriano, Eric Clapton, FDA, John Roberts, McDonald's, Turtles, Wendy's, Wigs

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Today is May 6, is the 127th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. 239 days remain until the end of the year.

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Among other things, today is Bike To School Day, Great American Grump Out, International No Diet Day, Joseph Brackett Day, National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day, National Beverage Day, National Crêpe Suzette Day, National Nurses Day, National School Nurse Day, National Tourist Appreciation Day, No Homework Day, Occupational Safety and Health Professional Day.

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As a maskless Trump tours an Arizona plant making face masks, someone plays "Live and Let Die" over the PA system...

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Remembering Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985):

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On this day in 1937, the German zeppelin Hindenburg burst into flames and crashed while attempting to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in New Jersey. 36 persons were killed, including one on the ground.

Trivia: The Hindenburg was supposed to be filled with helium instead of flammable hydrogen, but the sole source of helium, the United States, refused to sell it to Germany. Although abundant in the universe, helium is very scarce on Earth. The only commercially viable reserves are a few natural gas wells, mostly in the US, that trap it from the slow alpha decay of radioactive materials within the Earth. By human standards, helium is a non-renewable resource that cannot be practically manufactured from other materials. When released into the atmosphere, e.g., when a helium-filled balloon leaks or bursts, helium eventually escapes into space and is lost.

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On this date in 1994, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiated at opening of the Channel Tunnel between England and France.

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Willie Mays is 89 today.

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Bob Seger is 75 today.

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Tom Bergeron is 65 today.

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Murder hornets doubt they can do as much damage as Trump. (Borowitz)

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Oh, jeez. Anti-vaccination leaders seize on coronavirus to push resistance to inoculation. Leaders of the anti-vaccination movement, who in recent years have seen their efforts frustrated as U.S. states have adopted stricter laws promoting the inoculation of children, are seizing on the anxiety and social unrest generated by the virus and the government attempts to contain it.

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Octopus-like creatures inhabit Jupiter's moon, claims space scientist.

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Find a vaccine. Next: Produce 300 million vials of it. Scaling up the manufacturing of syringes and other medical products required to deliver a vaccine to millions of Americans will be just as important as the vaccine itself.

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Will Covid-19 go away in the summer and return in the fall? While heat and humidity harm the virus in the lab, that's not the same as real life.

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Trump says he shares his famed uncle's science genius. A friend says the uncle ‘would have been horrified.' The famed scientist John G. Trump once explained his theory of how to treat one malady by the “direct injection of electrons” into patients' skin. To treat another disease, he cited tests that showed it was possible to use electrons to “destroy or inactivate hepatitis virus in blood plasma.” But, President Trump's uncle said, “We unfortunately were not able to persuade anybody to try this,” because there had been “some casualties among volunteers.”

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In Japan, the ‘Murder Hornet' is both a lethal threat and a tasty treat. Long before the insects found their way to American shores, some Japanese prized them for their numbing crunch and the venomous buzz they add to liquor.

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Virus-afflicted 2020 looks like 1918 despite science's march. Modern science quickly identified today's new coronavirus, mapped its genetic code and developed a diagnostic test, tapping knowledge no one had in 1918. That has given people more of a fighting chance to stay out of harm's way, at least in countries that deployed tests quickly, which the U.S. didn't. But the ways to avoid getting sick and what to do when sick are little changed. The failure of U.S. presidents to take the threat seriously from the start also joins past to present.

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One in five Wendy's is out of beef. Around 1,000, or 18%, of Wendy's 5,500 US restaurants are not serving any hamburgers or other meat-based items, according to an analysis of online menus at every location conducted by financial firm Stephens. Wendy's is "more exposed" to the shortage sparked by the coronavirus pandemic because of its reliance on fresh beef compared with its competitors, the note said.

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Think murder hornets are bad? Alabama police search for "aggressive chicken" attacking people at ATMs.

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

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Categories: 1918 Pandemic, Andy Borowitz, Animals, Bob Seger, Channel Tunnel, Covid-19, Donald Trump, Hindenburg, John G. Trump, Jupiter, Murder Hornet, Orson Welles, Spanish Flu, Tom Bergeron, Vaccines, Wendy's, Willie Mays

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