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.