Sanity Sunday- Three by Don McLean

by Nomad

Whenever we think of singer and songwriter Don McLean, we remember his classic "American Pie" and the immortal "Vincent."

However, on that same 1971 album (American Pie), there were so many other great songs. I have chosen a selection of three.

Film Friday - Hate for Sale

  by Nomad

The short animation, Hate for Sale, by Anna Eijsbouts, is based on a poem by Neil Gaiman. Anna says "I like to make things move, so I became an animator."

Think You Know Geography? Take this Challenging Trivia Quiz and Find Out

by Nomad

We are living in historical times, no doubt about that. Most of the news is bleak nowadays. So, to take your mind off of current events for a brief moment, I will be providing my friends with a few diversions.

Here's another trivia quiz, this time on geography. Fifteen questions in all. Some are easy and some are more challenging. Let me know how you do on this.

After Last Week's Blunders, Is Donald Trump Now Officially a President in Free Fall?

by Nomad

In the heart of Texas, there's a feeling that President Trump's administration is going nowhere but down. And last week proved it.

Even before yesterday's stunning announcement that Scaramucci, a man hired only 10 days before, had been shown the exit door, Trump seemed to be unable to maintain control. Shakeups amongst his staff had quickly become a non-stop event even as Sarah Huckabee smirked and shrugged her way through press conferences with assurances that things were 120% normal.  

Like Richard Nixon in the middle of the Watergate scandal, Trump is spending more and more time and energy unsuccessfully defending himself from an avalanche of bad news. Most of it locally produced.
But every day is proving to be a little more degrading and vulgar than the day before. Last week, Trump craziness went into overdrive. 

Sanity Sunday- Four by Shirley Ellis

by Nomad

This Sanity Sunday throws the spotlight on the songs of Shirley Ellis.

Even though it is not reflected in her music, Ellis was of West Indian origin with her father was a native of Montserrat and her mother was born in the Bahamas.
She recorded only three albums in her career (with two later compilation albums).

• 1964: In Action
• 1965: The Name Game
• 1967: Sugar, Let's Shing a Ling

In 1968, for unknown reasons, Ellis retired from the music industry. Before she passed at the age of 76 in 2005, her music had experienced something of a revival, (or perhaps better put, an appreciation) with lots and lots of cover versions made by diverse artists.

Let's get to the music.

Prepare yourself for one wild dance number with the song "The Nitty Gritty."  Along with "The Clapping Song" and of course, "The Name Game," this 1963 song was one of her many novelty hits.

Want to Create Jobs in the Energy Sector? Just Stop Listening to Mr.Trump

by Nomad

Elimination of the Rules

Back in January, when Trump was fresh and full of spunk, he told Americans that he would be the "greatest job producer God has ever created." 
A couple of months later, when Trump was no longer so fresh and cared more about his golf time, he signed an executive decree calling on every federal agency to loosen the regulatory reins on fossil fuel industries.

Trump directed all departments to identify and target for elimination any rules that restrict U.S. production of energy, and he set guidance to make it more difficult to put future regulations in place on the coal, oil and natural gas industries.

Surrounded by burly coal miners, President Trump said.

"This is the start of a new era in American energy production and job creation. We will eliminate federal overreach, restore economic freedom and allow workers and companies to play on a level playing field for the first time in a long time, a long time."

In the name of making America great again, Trump has pulled out all stops domestically to handicap the growth of alternative energy and promoted the continuation of a carbon-dominated economy.

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.

Can You Pass the US Naturalization Test?

by Nomad

Now for a quick diversion from the news.

As part of the process of naturalization for all foreign applicants, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers are obliged to ask at least ten questions from 100 questions. The questions cover basic government civics and the fundamental outlines of US history.

One would think that these questions ought to be a breeze for all American citizens. Want to give it a shot?

Even though I expect perfect scores from my nomadic brigade, I admit that there were a couple I didn't know and a couple I got the answer to only by elimination. 

Sanity Sunday - Four by Jim Croce

by Nomad

Even though they may not have ever realized it at that time, on 20 September 1973, music lovers lost a rising star. Upon takeoff from an airport in Natchitoches, La, the single-engine plane in which singer/songwriter Jim Croce and five others were riding failed to gain altitude and crashed.
All aboard died.

At the time, Croce was well on his way to fame and fortune.
Tragically, his career was abruptly cut short.

Born in South Philly on 10 January 1943, Croce learned music at an early age. For most of his short life, he struggled to earn a living and music was not a dependable profession. In an interview he once said:

"I've had to get in and out of music a couple of times, because music didn't always mean a living. You don't make that much in bars; I still have memories of those nights, playing for $25 a night, with nobody listening."

The Dangers of Living in an Arrogant Age

 by Nomad

The artist David Hockney once said:

We seem to live in an arrogant age; in fact, the idea that there's not much to learn from the past is rather disturbing. In some ways, we might say we do know more but we seem to have forgotten some things they knew in the past.   

It's an excellent observation, I think. I have no idea what the context of that remark actually was - most likely art- but it got me a bit nostalgic.

Dog Eat Dog: A Nomadic Film Review of "The Founder"

by Nomad

Sometimes it is nice to be outsmarted- at least, in the theater.
In real life, it's not so much fun.

Outsmarted is how I felt after watching the film "The Founder." Initially, the 2016 film appeared to be a 2-hour long advertisement (in story form) for the fast-food giant, McDonald's. I presumed it was a kind of publicity campaign to counter the highly critical "Super Size Me."

Sanity Sunday- Five by The Seekers

by Nomad

Formed in Melbourne in 1962, the Australian pop/folk group, The Seekers were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Cartoonists Take Aim at Trump and the G20 Summit

by Nomad

Good News Round-up for Week 1- July 2017

by Nomad

Starting this month, as a regular feature, I would like to offer a round-up of some recent  good news. For the sake of our sanity, it is important that we do not too bogged down in the mire and muck of the Trump age. It's easy to forget that the gloom is not global.
Here are five positive diversions.

Sanity Sunday- Five by 2Cellos

by Nomad

In my opinion, there's something incredibly seductive and expressive about the sound of the cello. So. what could be better than two cellos with two extremely gifted musicians playing them?

If you've never heard of the dual 2Cellos, allow me to introduce you. Both accomplished musicians independently, Croatian cellists Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser, have become something of phenomena by pushing the cello to new levels and attracting new audiences.

Extortion of the Sick: How For-Profit Health Care Has Destroyed US Medical Care

by Nomad

In the past, an armed mugger would offer his victims a stark choice: "Your money or your life!"

That bleak option, in our times, has literally become the business model for the US health care system.

An Inescapable American Burden

Physician-turned-journalist Elisabeth Rosenthal, opens her new book, An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back, with these lines:

In the past quarter century, the American medical system has stopped focusing on health or even science. Instead, it attends more or less single-mindedly to its own profits.
Everyone knows the healthcare system is in disarray. We’ve grown numb to huge bills. We regard high prices as an inescapable American burden.

Let's Talk Trash: A Few Thoughts on Garbage

  by Endless Summer

Lately, we have been dealing with a lot of garbage.
I keep thinking at some point the goings-on in DC will abate somewhat and we will be able to catch our breaths, but so far the chaos proceeds at a smashing pace and we watch our political norms and the social contract between the people and the government being ripped asunder in a startling way. Our outrage can barely keep up with the injustices perpetrated by Trump and his crew.

So, while we wait for Mueller, et al, to take out the political garbage in DC, I wrote this post about literal garbage in our world, and some good things that are being done to take out our trash.

The Story of Franklin Roosevelt's Alternative Destiny

by Nomad

Here's an obscure bit of trivia about our 32nd President president: a story of a path that was never taken and that made all the difference. 

The Best Thing

My mother tended to be an optimist and whenever I came home with some tale of woe, no matter how desperate or despairing the situation was, she would usually say, "You know, that might just be the best thing that ever happened to you."

That kind of Pollyanna approach was not exactly what I wanted to hear. I wanted hand-holding sympathy. However, looking back, I think she was, for the most part, correct.
If one chooses to believe in fate, then it is the invisible hand of destiny that nudges us this way and that to keep us on a certain path. Every obstacle in our path, every disappointment has actually been a challenge that we had to learn from.

In my mother's world, nothing happened randomly: there was a reason why terrible things happened, why our hopes and dreams were sometimes crushed or deferred. The detours were just as important as the destination.

FDR: A Man Adrift

The other day, I stumbled across this story about the early career of Franklin Roosevelt. I cannot vouch for the veracity of the story but it sounds plausible enough. I have filled in the details as best I could.

President Trump and the Tragedy of American Ingratitude

by Nomad

Gratitude-The Parent of all Virtues

I've been doing some thinking on the subject of gratitude. How grateful am I? How much do I take for granted and do I count my lucky stars enough? Do any of us?
As the Roman Cicero said:

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."

As a concept, it often seems like it has gone the way of solitude and horse and buggy. Meaning, when you do find it, it's an exceptional and underrated thing.

Gratitude is defined as a feeling of appreciation or thanks. Unique among the nations of the world, the US is the one country that actually has a holiday (supposedly) dedicated to giving thanks. There was a time when saying blessings at dinner was fairly common. You'd think, therefore, giving thanks would still be an unshakeable American principle.

Trump's Runaway Effect: Tracing the Science of Climate Change and Trump's Denials

by Nomad

President Trump's ignorance of the long history of the science of Climate Change has fueled his irrational denials and conspiracy theories. That, and the prodding and solicitation of special interests. 

First Glimpse of the Ultimate Horror

In the summer of 1982, businessman Donald Trump was celebrating the opening of the 58-story skyscraper, Trump Tower, in downtown Manhattan.
Trump was well on his way to building his own formidable business empire. In that year, Trump reported a personal net worth of $321 million. True, his wealth was built largely on his father’s connections, as well as loans and guarantees for bank credit, it was nevertheless an impressive figure for a man of 36.

Nobody asked but it's doubtful whether or not he took any particular interest in the climate. It is safe to assume he wouldn't have cared whether it was changing or not. Why should he have cared? The topic offered him no path to greater fame nor greater wealth. 

Sanity Sunday- Four by Vashti Bunyan

  by Nomad

There's probably never been a career quite like that of Vashti Bunyan. In 1970, when her first album, Just Another Diamond Day, was released it was blasted by critics. Commercially, it was a flop, with only a few hundred copies pressed with little to no advertisement.

The experience was enough to make the English folk singer-songwriter, disillusioned and discouraged, turn her back on the music industry and retreat into obscurity. That might well have been the end of the story.

However, in the thirty years that followed, something peculiar happened. The album (along with her singles that never made it on any albums) began attracting the interest among record collectors and bootleggers. Eventually, that reevaluation of her short music career led to official re-issues that album.
This led to inspiring a whole new generation of folk artists and her music has reached a wider audience than ever.

"Mr. Irrelevant" Finds his Calling Redefining the Limits of the Disabled

by Nomad

Meet David Vabora, former NFL linebacker, and gym owner.

How Trump Has Already Delivered Everything Putin Ever Wished For

by Nomad

 

Sanity Sunday- Four by Antonio Carlos Jobim

 by Nomad

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1927, Antônio Carlos Jobim, also known as Tom Jobim, became known for as the moving force for bossa nova style in the 1960s.  Jobim was a composer, pianist, songwriter, arranger, and singer.
He was described by friend

He was a gentle man highly interested in all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to Brazilian, Latin and American popular music. Even then he was a great talker when the subjects were music and women.

If that photo is anything to go by, I am sure he was a hit with the ladies. Make no mistake, Jobim was a serious artist.

Generally speaking, he was much more intelligent than most musicians, but he respected the ones he considered talented and intelligent. Usually, he lost patience easily when someone argued things without a musical base, with nonsense arguments.

A Visit to PPLA: Planned Parenthood Does More Than You Ever Knew

 by Leadfoot

Because of the volunteer work we have done promoting the Power Pom, Bella and I were recently invited to tour Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA).

For some reason, it never occurred to me just how eye-opening this experience would be for a 14-year-old. However, the questions she asked during the tour opened my eyes to just how much of her innocence is left, and how important it is to discuss women’s health issues with our daughters, as early as possible. It has been 6 days since the tour, and she still hasn’t stopped talking about it. Below is a re-telling of our experience.

Unfit on Day One: Paul Ryan Offers an Insulting Excuse for President Trump's Fiasco

by Nomad

The Foundation Stone

It is hard to find the just one adjective to describe former FBI Director Comey's testimony before the Senate yesterday. "Riveting" for most viewers, "devastating" for Trump and his defenders but perhaps, whichever side of the political spectrum you find yourself, it was a "historical event."

Under oath, Comey made a solid case that the President knowingly attempted to quash an investigation of the alleged Russian collusion of Mike Flynn. Comey's notes claimed that Trump actually said:

I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is good guy. I hope you can let this go.

As the hearing was wrapped up, it was impossible not to conclude that the foundation stone for articles of impeachment had been solidly laid.

A Day of Affirmation: Robert Kennedy's 1966 Speech in South Africa

by Nomad

A Voice for the Silenced

The sixth of June marks a historically important day. It is, most famously, the day that saw the Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy in 1944. It was the day the tide turned against fascism and barbarity. There is, however, another event that occurred on this day which took place 51 years ago, to 6 June 1966, to the sixth day of the sixth month of 1966.

Our Nomadic Time Machine takes us to the University of Cape Town in South Africa where Robert Kennedy, former Attorney General and brother of the slain president takes the podium.

Much to the concern of many in the South African establishment, Bobby Kennedy had been invited to give the address at the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) in honor of the "Day of Reaffirmation of Academic and Human Freedom" union president Ian Robertson. Kennedy, Robertson thought, "captured the idealism [and] the passion of young people all over the world."

Sanity Sunday- Three by George Harrison

by Nomad

I  wanted to dedicate this Sunday sanity break to George Harrison who died 16 years ago next November. Hard to believe so much time has passed already.

A few trivia notes about George Harrison:

• Harrison was the youngest member of the Beatles.
• George and Paul McCartney were the first two Beatles to meet. Back in 1954 when Paul was 12 and George was 11, they rode on the same school bus. 
• George played 26 different instruments. 
• George's greatest joy was gardening. He claimed to have "planted 10,000 trees" in his lifetime. In 1980, he published his autobiography I Me Mine. The book was dedicated "to all gardeners everywhere."

Gay Marriage Bans, Religious Freedom and the Battle of the Armrests

by Nomad

The Armrest Story

About fifteen years I had to fly back to the US, having learned my mother was ill. I wasn't in the mood for arguments. I really wasn't in the mood for traveling.  I had long since lost my thrill of air travel. It's now something I put up with but seldom enjoy. I just pray it will be uneventful. That's the best I can hope for.

Part of the problem is that I can't stand being packed in close quarters with strangers. If you share this particular dread, then you know that flights are a whole lot of un-fun. 

On this particular flight- from Izmir to Istanbul- the first leg in was to be 16-hour flight, I was unfortunate enough to be sitting next to a classic nightmare passenger. Almost anybody who has traveled has had at least one experience with one of the countless varieties of detestable types.

Hillary Clinton: "There's a Full-Fledged Assault on Truth and Reason"

by Nomad

"Now, you may have heard that things didn’t exactly go the way I planned. But you know what? I’m doing okay." Hillary Clinton told the graduating class at Wellesley, a private women's liberal arts college in Massachusetts. "I won’t lie. Chardonnay helped a little, too. But here’s what helped most of all: remembering who I am, where I come from, and what I believe.” 

Ms. Clinton had stood at the podium before, forty-eight years ago, to give her own student commencement speech. In this return engagement, the former first lady and Secretary of State had an important message for the young women of the Class of 2017. This the assault on the truth now going is "serious business." Lives of innocent people will be devastated.

As evidence, she cited the recently proposed Trump budget which she called "an attack of unimaginable cruelty on the most vulnerable among us, the youngest, the oldest, the poorest, and hard-working people."

And to top it off, it is shrouded in a trillion-dollar mathematical lie. Let’s call it what it is. It’s a con. They don’t even try to hide it.

ACLU: “Sanctuary Cities” Law Wrongheaded, Racist, Undemocratic and Un-Texan

by Nomad

On the issue of the new laws banning "sanctuary cities" in Texas, there's a showdown on the calendar between the state, civil rights groups and city governments.

ACLU and the Strike of Pecan Shellers

When 12,000 pecan shellers- mostly Hispanic women- went on strike in San Antonio in January 1938, one of the effects of that three-month labor action was the formation of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. 

At that time, Texas was famous for its pecan production and accounted for nearly half of the nation's pecan production. The center of that production was- you guessed it- San Antonio. It might have been a big business but there wasn't much of a trickle down effect for the workers.
The pecan-shelling industry was one of the lowest-paid industries in the United States, with a typical wage ranging between two and three dollars a week. In addition that, the fine brown dust of the pecan shells was the suspected cause of the high rates of tuberculosis in San Antonio. 

When workers demanded better working conditions and something closer to a living wage, local law enforcement cracked down on the picketers despite their right to free speech and free assembly. 

Brookings' Elaine Kamarck Explains the Delicate Process of Impeachment

by Nomad

One of the helpful things a blog like Nomadic Politics can do is to provide its readers with accurate information on complicated or misunderstood issues. This, in turn, can lay the foundation for an intelligent discussion based on informed opinions.

One topic which is much talked about but rarely explained in depth is the topic of the impeachment pf the president. In US history, there have been only three times this constitutional provision has been attempted.

Elaine Kamarck is, as senior fellow in the Governance Studies program at Brookings and the founding director of the Center for Effective Public Management, an esteemed authority on the way things work in politics and government.  

The Goodness of Gardening: Renewing our Spirits and Urban Spaces

 by Endless Summer

The Need to Refuel

First, let me say a big thank you to Nomad for allowing us to continue this community here in this space he so graciously hosts. And thank him for giving me the opportunity to communicate with the community through this post.

The 2016 election has brought us a set of challenges unlike most of us have seen in our lifetimes. Daily, we see Trump and the GOP rend the fabric of our democratic society, and the pace and breadth of the assault threatens to overwhelm us. Trumpression is real, and most of us have expressed it here in our comments. So I asked Nomad if I might write a post with the intention of uplifting the community, and he obliged.

Resistance, no matter the form it takes, requires fuel. Whether it’s marching in protests, calling and writing lawmakers, attending organizational meetings, it takes a lot out of you. It’s fatiguing, not to mention infuriating, to have finished a round of phone calls to lawmakers, only to check twitter and see another abomination unleashed on us. It’s been just over 100 days and I’m exhausted. I know y’all are too, so let’s refuel.

I think of refueling, or some say self-care, as feeding the soul; the things we can do each day that bring us joy and generally make the world a better place.

Presidential Pardons and the Question of Justice

by Nomad

As reported a couple of months ago, one of the last official acts of President Obama was to commute the remainder of Chelsea Manning's 35-year sentence.
On Wednesday, Manning walked out of the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, bringing to a conclusion, as the New York Times called, "one of the most extraordinary criminal cases in American history over the leaking of government secrets to the public."

Manning and Snowden

The other day I was reading an online discussion regarding the subject of presidential pardons. Specifically, the topic was whether President Obama was right in pardoning Chelsea Manning and not pardoning former National Security Agency contractor  Edward Snowden. 

Snowden, who currently lives in exile in Russia,  faces charges under the Espionage Act of 1918, a law the constitutionality of which has been contested ever since it was enacted. 

Among other things, that law makes it a crime to convey information with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the armed forces of the United States or to promote the success of its enemies during wartime.  

The campaign to pardon Snowden picked up momentum after Oliver Stone's film but sputtered and ran out of gas. Indeed, all members of  House Select Committee on Intelligence, (13 Republicans and nine Democrats, ) sent a letter to the White House urging against a pardon for Snowden.

Here's Why Trump's $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan is Likely to Go Nowhere

by Nomad

Second to None

As a candidate, Trump talked a lot about the sorry state of the US infrastructure. The list was extensive, from roads and highways barely navigable because of potholes to bridges literally rusting away. There were less conspicuous things in desperate need of an overhaul, for example, the electric grid and water systems.
And nobody's denying that America is coming apart at the seams.

The UK Guardian reported only last month:

The most authoritative report of the country’s infrastructure gave the country’s crumbling roads, bridges, dams, schools and other essential underpinnings an overall D+ grade ... Not a single element of America’s framework received an A grade. 

It's a crying shame for the world's wealthiest and most powerful country. Moreover, the long-term neglect has put lives in danger.