What Movies Did Richard Nixon Watch During Final Months In White House? (And Why This Is Being Posted)

It is Thursday night and it feels–given the headlines–like this week is simply going to rank up there among the most bizarre of the year.  So I am taking time to ponder other things and perhaps take a couple of my readers along for the escape that is so needed.

I found a site where all the films that President Nixon watched during his years at the White are all listed by date and location where viewed.  OK, that is an odd thing to be searching you may say to your computer screen.  But please note this was the week where the continually factually challenged White House Press Secretary said that truth does not matter, but instead only what President Trump thinks is the truth.

So you bet your sweet Nelly I am seeking out all sorts of odd topics to fill my mind with new ideas and thoughts other than what passes for Republican Party politics.

In the second graph below are the abbreviation for where the films were viewed.   While the link above has the entire list I am taking only the last months of his presidency and posting them below.  Enjoy.

April

BecketCD The Great Gatsby↓CD Mr. Deeds Goes to Town CD Call of the Wild KB What’s Up, Doc? KB The Solid Gold Cadillac KB The Sugarland Express KB The Long, Hot Summer

May

KB The Paper Chase↓KB Rio Conchos KB The Seven-Ups KB On the Beach WH Shenandoah WH The Wrong Box WH Zandy’s Bride

June

WH Holiday↓CD Divorce Italian Style CD Kitty CD The Big Sleep CD The Big Heat

July

KB Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round↓KB McQ KB By the Light of the Silvery Moon SC Chad Hanna SC Come Next Spring SC Man on a Swing SC Man without a Star SC Double Indemnity SC Two for the Seesaw SC The Train Robbers SC It’s a Wonderful Life SC Around the World in 80 Days SC

Key to screening sites:
WH	White House
CD	Camp David
KB	Key Biscayne
SC	San Clemente
PS	Walter Annenberg’s Palm Springs estate
GC	Robert Abplanalp’s Grand Cay home
CB	Caneel Bay Plantation
MI	Minot Island, Maine
AI	Thomas McCabe’s residence on Assateague Island, Maryland

Newspaper Editorial: Donald Trump Is A Madman

Early stages of dementia and many in the inner circle are aware of the mental condition of President Trump.  They need to act.  Now.

...the sheer strangeness of Trump’s behavior, leads us to conclude that we are witnessing signs of mania.

Caffeinated Politics agrees that Trump is not a well person.

Special Interests, Not Small Children, Clamoring For Wisconsin Gun Law

It was the type of news report that no one in Wisconsin could be proud of when knowing it had reached a national audience.   But there it was in USA Today.

On the heels of a change that eliminated Wisconsin’s minimum hunting age, 10 state hunting licenses were sold this month to children younger than 1, according to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources data released Tuesday.

It’s not known whether any of he infants actually participated in the hunt.

We chide other states over this or that issue but now we have to be prepared for the snide remarks which are surely to be aimed at us.    How this piece of legislation ever came to see the light of day is as much on my mind as the effect of its passage on our state.

What is at the heart of this matter is that some of the hunting interests in the state see a slippage in the number of young people who feel exhilaration over the notion of toting a weapon into the woods and killing animals.   There was no huge expression of desire from youngsters on this matter.  They were not calling legislative offices or using crayons to write letters to support a bill that they had no idea about. No, this whole matter was all about the special interests.

If members of the legislature were so intent on helping young people explore the great outdoors they  surely could have found some other avenue than one which allows access to a deadly weapon.  But this was not about kids as much as those special interests who also send campaign cash at election season.

I can say this with some authority since I know something about stuffing strange gun bills through the Wisconsin Legislature.  After all, I was the legislative aide to former State Representative Lary Swoboda at the time he authored the blind hunting bill in the state.  I would like to say you should read that line twice–but it still comes out the same.

If you have never spent any time with a quick-minded reporter from one of the Chicago papers, let me tell you blind hunting should not be your introductory topic on which to spar.  Believe me, I now know.  My ethical qualms tore at me between doing the job I was hired to do, and my sincere opposition to the measure on policy grounds.   In the end I was able to do both by talking off the record with the reporter and being able to impart the facts and also allow my conscience to be clear.

But the recent bill allowing all ages to hunt shows that these many years later legislators still get trapped into authoring such measures.  I know some will argue, as Swoboda did, that it shows representatives are ‘in touch’ with their districts.  But let me take the spin off that line and be blunt.  These types of bills are nothing more than a sign the elected officials are in touch with the special interests who fund the campaigns.

Having been raised in a rural area I know there are some kids who really desire to hunt with their dad or older relatives.  But I also know there are some kids at 13 who want to drive, and by 14 want to have sex.  But with all things there is a time and a season.  When most young kids are still not responsible enough to take the garbage to the curb each week one has to wonder what was in the heads of those who sponsored and passed this legislation.

At some point this law is going to prove very troubling and there will be headlines in newspapers and Letters to the Editor from shocked citizens.  At that time I trust those in the state legislature who passed it take the time to issue a meaningless press release, fully understanding that when they had the chance to stop the bill they opted instead to work for the special hunting interests.

Do Not Let Bob Schieffer Be Next Man To Fall

My headline for this post is totally in jest, as I much respect and admire long-time CBS news reporter Bob Schieffer.  After waking up this morning I first heard that NBC Today host Matt Lauer was fired for sexual actions against a woman.  A few hours later I came back inside the house and looked at my updated news feed and learned that Garrison Keillor was fired by NPR for something also related to sexual improprieties.

So as I read about Keillor the first words from my mouth were “Seems like Bob Schieffer might be the last man standing.”

While there is no way that Schieffer would be in the same column with those who have made headlines and ousted from their jobs the point is that what is now happening seems too afar afield from reality.

I get it that there are leches and people who should be barred from normal society.  My mom told a story of an old geezer in Ozone, Arkansas who now almost 70 years ago rubbed up against her as she was in the store as a girl.  I knew there were guys like that who still worked in the statehouse when I was employed there and though times have changed too many men are still not aware of boundaries.

But having said that I also think it more than odd that a whole raft of very A-type names in media are being brought down.  President Bush 41 has been reported to have had his hands on the backsides of women, and a high profile Nashville agent has been sidelined for sexual antics.

If someone punches me and causes injury I am going to call the cops at once.  I would not hold a grudge for 10 years and then one day lodge a protest.  Yes, I understand that women feel concern about being labeled by their accusers and can feel the backlash from calling out men in power.  But how did all these women not come forward at the time the situation occurred?

So it does seem surreal to have the floodgates open all at once and have–as with the case today–two most powerful and star-studded names fired from events that seemed to have occurred years prior to the release of this information.    What was it about last year which made such an outpouring of grievances not acceptable and now it is a perfect season?

This in no way is blaming women.  But I simply do not understand what is now happening that by all common-sense could have just as easily been reported at anytime in the past.  And that does then call into question motive.

Let’s Talk About The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

One of the most unusual stories that is making headlines this week—and be assured that I choose my words carefully as almost everything these days constitutes unusual—surrounds the leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

After its director shut his office door for the last time it was assumed that his deputy would be the next in line for the job.   But then a turf battle started with President Trump and some Republicans taking to the ramparts to place their choice into the top job. The reason for the unseemly political maneuver is that there is a deep desire to strip, neuter, and degrade the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

And that last sentence holds the key, in my estimation, as to how this matter of who should lead the bureau must be viewed.

I come to this blogging world with a fair amount of experience in legislative matters.   I worked in the Wisconsin State Assembly for a decade as a Research Assistant and Committee Clerk for a state representative. I also handled all of the media relations for the office having come from a broadcasting background.

Laws are written with intended outcomes.  As such, the manner in which legislative language is employed in laws must be the way that the road is traveled.  When one starts to deviate from legislative intent there is no good way to make it not look awful.

I say that to underscore that when the Dodd-Frank bill was drafted and then passed by congress the words, which allowed for the autonomy that the deputy director correctly felt was hers, cannot be now tossed aside for partisan reasons. The matter is not for the president—any president of whichever party—to use for partisan gain.

I am not a lawyer—though I love John Grisham books—but it would appear from my knowledge and understanding that the balls in the air right now should be addressed by congress.

And if we had a functioning and reason-based congress that is the ideal place to have this handled.   The last thing that should be done is for yet another executive power grab that limits the powers of congress.  That partisanship runs so strong among the GOP that it will not stop this from happening shows not how smart Trump is, but instead how weak and ineffective the majority party in congress happens to be in 2017.

God Said Look Up My Son Over Madison And Behold

And there again tonight it was simply amazing.  The photos were taken from B.B. Clarke Beach and one block down the street.   STUNNING!  These pics are exactly as they were taken and no work from me in any way to enhance them.

Republican Caught Red-Handed CREATING Fake News–But Washington Post Busted Truth Wide Open

Oh, the shame this woman must feel as the light of truth exposes her for what she is.

Two shades dimmer than a 40-watt light bulb.

A woman who falsely claimed to The Washington Post that Roy Moore, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Alabama, impregnated her as a teenager appears to work with an organization that uses deceptive tactics to secretly record conversations in an effort to embarrass its targets.

In a series of interviews over two weeks, the woman shared a dramatic story about an alleged sexual relationship with Moore in 1992 that led to an abortion when she was 15. During the interviews, she repeatedly pressed Post reporters to give their opinions on the effects that her claims could have on Moore’s candidacy if she went public.

The Post did not publish an article based on her unsubstantiated account. When Post reporters confronted her with inconsistencies in her story and an Internet posting that raised doubts about her motivations, she insisted that she was not working with any organization that targets journalists.

But on Monday morning, Post reporters saw her walking into the New York offices of Project Veritas, an organization that targets the mainstream news media and left-leaning groups. The organization sets up undercover “stings” that involve using false cover stories and covert video recordings meant to expose what the group says is media bias.

As Seen At Sunset Tonight From B.B. Clarke Beach

There is no way to describe the power of the color or the electricity it created among the handful of people who were around to see this stunning sunset at B.B. Clarke Beach.  I had come out to take some photos and video (placed on my personal Facebook page).  The thrills that were registered by some college guys and an older couple echoed my sentiments.