Trivia Quiz- The Last Week in July in History

by Nomad

As you all know, last week, I posted a quiz involving questions from the US naturalization application. I was happy- though not surprised- to hear about your high scores.

This week, I've decided to offer you something a bit more challenging- but certainly not impossible. The rules are simple. Make your best guess using your logic and intelligence, using the process of elimination, or using your memory.
Good luck!

Why One Veteran Journalist Warns about Comparing Watergate to Trump's Scandal

by Nomad

As we all grope blindly in the slimy darkness of the Trump scandal, it is perhaps natural that we attempt to make comparisons to the past, for some sort of precedent. And when the topic of a president in trouble arises, the first name that comes to mind is, of course, Nixon in the Watergate debacle.

However, one journalist who witnessed first-hand the presidential contortions and the political chess game back in the 1970s warns that comparisons are misleading for a variety of critical reasons.

Witness to Watergate

Politico's Susan Glasser interviewed veteran journalist Elizabeth Drew, a Washington correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly from 1967 to 1973. Drew was at ground zero when President Nixon's met his Waterloo and kept a real time record of the event. In 1975, she published her account of the Watergate scandal in her book, Washington Journal: The Events of 1973-74.

Her book was reprinted back in 2014 before Trump appeared as a serious presidential candidate. That book, for obvious reasons, is now selling like hotcakes.

Film Friday- "Made in Iowa"

by Nomad

When the main employer of Webster City, Iowa, (pop.8,070) closed down on March 31, 2011, nobody had much hope that the town would survive.

The Swedish appliance maker, Electrolux, like so many companies, had decided to shut its washer-dryer plant and move its production plant to Mexico.
By 2013, with the two-year the government-supported retraining program coming to an end, the news from Webster City was bleak, the future uncertain.