Presidents Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

July rambling: Sp Bad at Typign

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

no_the_other_one — NO, the OTHER one From https://xkcd.com/2480/

Inside Exxon’s playbook: How America’s biggest oil company continues to oppose action on climate change and climate change is here and This is
Why We Should Stop Calling it Climate Change

#Film4Climate 1st Prize Short Film Winner – Three Seconds

A New American Manifesto

Erik Prince, the failson face of privatized war

“Good Guy with a Gun” killed by the cops he was trying to save

Lincoln was the best. Buchanan was the worst. What about the others?
C-SPAN rounds up historians to rank the Presidents. Trump is 41st

How Woodrow Wilson betrayed China and helped give rise to the Chinese Communist Party

Oops: The Trump Organization Kept Literal Spreadsheets of Its Crimes

Inside William Barr’s Breakup With Trump

“I’d rather die living”

COVID Data Tracker

Boston Globe: The United States has yet to fully abolish slavery

The IRS is holding millions of tax returns, delaying refunds, including, it appears, ours

Over 42,000 Americans died in motor vehicle accidents in 2020, up 8% from 2019.

Upstate New York faces a plague of caterpillars

Words and things

From Wordsmith: The shorter the word, the more meanings it has. The Oxford English Dictionary lists more than 500 senses of the 3-letter word set. The 45-letter long pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, on the other hand, has one meaning and will forever have that one meaning.

Zaila Avant-garde breezes to National Spelling Bee win

A horse race

Mapping global happiness levels.

I just found out the guy who invented auto-correct died. His funnel is tomato…

The Internet Is Rotting. Too much has been lost already. The glue that holds humanity’s knowledge together is coming undone.

Geography: Seasons of a Finger Lakes Winery

‘They said I don’t exist. But I am here’ – one woman’s battle to prove she
isn’t dead

Richard Donner, 1930-2021

This Year’s Bill Finger Awards for comic book writing, posthumous

Midnight on Olin chair — Midnight, sitting in the antique Olin chair almost as soon as it entered the premises

Pine Hills Review: F*ck 2020

Why Am I Sp Bad At Typign?

‘Give Black people credit’: Black TikTok stars strike, demand credit for their work

2021 fireworks

Now I Know: The Balloon Shields and The Problem With Jam and The Secret of the Swiss Cheese and Getting the Horse’s Goat and Pigging Out on Video Games and The Pink Gun Surprise

This Wedding RSVP Card Is Going Viral

My Life as a Meme: ‘I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This’ Revisited

A tortoise eating a strawberry

MUSIC

Kaintuck by William Grant Still

Min Kwon: America/Beautiful

Central Park in the Dark by Charles Ives

Coverville 1362: The Killers Cover Story and
1363: Summer Covers and 1364: Mini-Album Covers for Escape, Heavy Metal and 4

VOCES8

Home from The Wiz, vocalist is Landi Oshinowo

Beautiful Girl Montage from Singin’ in the Rain.

The Most COMPLEX Pop Song of All Time

Presidents Day 2021 (apolitical)

Reagan is the only prez born in Illinois

For Presidents Day 2021, mostly apolitical stuff.

How many pairs of U.S. Presidents have had the same last name? Answer below.

“The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.” – Ulysses S. Grant

June 24, 2020 — Earlier this month, a fire tore through the historic White Pine Camp in the Adirondacks. The camp served as the summer white house for President Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s. Now, the camp says it’s planning to rebuild.

Every president born before John F. Kennedy was born in the nineteenth century or earlier, making him the first twentieth-century born to become a president. He was also the first Boy Scout, and the first Roman Catholic to become president.

The Hero Who Saved His Hero (RWR)

Game show exercise

I was watching Celebrity Who Wants to Be a Millionaire last year. One of the questions was, “What is the most common Presidential first name, with six?”
The choices were George, James, John, and William. I was fairly sure it wasn’t William (turns out there were three), and I KNEW it wasn’t George because there are Washington and the Bushes.

So I ran through the Presidents in order in my head. After the 6th, it was 2-2 (Madison, Monroe v the Adams family). #10 was John Tyler, #11 was James K. Polk. 3-3. #15 was James Buchanan, #20 was James Garfield. So it’s James because the final one was in my lifetime.

Where were they born?

Here are some Presidential facts.

More presidents were born in Virginia than in any other state – eight.
Martin Van Buren was the first president born in a state rather than a colony.
21 of the 50 states have been the birthplace of a president.

1st – Virginia 8
1 George Washington; 3 Thomas Jefferson; 4 James Madison; 5 James Monroe; 9 William Henry Harrison; 10 John Tyler; 12 Zachary Taylor; 28 Woodrow Wilson

2nd – Ohio 7
18 Ulysses S. Grant; 19 Rutherford B. Hayes; 20 James A. Garfield; 23 Benjamin Harrison; 25 William McKinley; 27 William H. Taft; 29 Warren G. Harding

3rd – New York 5
8 Martin Van Buren; 13 Millard Fillmore; 26 Theodore Roosevelt; 32 Franklin D. Roosevelt; 45 Donald J. Trump

4th – Massachusetts 4
2 John Adams; 6 John Quincy Adams; 35 John F. Kennedy; 41 George H. W. Bush

Tied for 5th
North Carolina 2 (11 James K. Polk; 17 Andrew Johnson)
Pennsylvania 2- (15 James Buchanan; 46 Joseph R. Biden)
Texas 2 (34 Dwight D. Eisenhower; 36 Lyndon B. Johnson)
Vermont 2 (21 Chester A. Arthur; 30 Calvin Coolidge)

Tied for 9th
Arkansas – 42 Bill Clinton; California – 37 Richard M. Nixon; Connecticut – 43 George W. Bush; Georgia – 39 Jimmy Carter; Hawaii – 44 Barack Obama; Illinois – 40 Ronald Reagan; Iowa – 31 Herbert Hoover; Kentucky – 16 Abraham Lincoln; Missouri- 33 Harry S. Truman; Nebraska – 38 Gerald R. Ford; New Hampshire – 14 Franklin Pierce; New Jersey 22 and 24 – Grover Cleveland; South Carolina – 7 Andrew Jackson

Answers

Five presidents have shared the same last name throughout history: Adams, Harrison, Johnson, Roosevelt, and Bush. Father/son pairs, John Adams (No. 2) fathered John Quincy Adams (No. 6), and George H.W. Bush (No. 41) fathered George W. Bush (No. 43). William Henry Harrison (No. 9) was the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison (No. 23), and the Roosevelts (Theodore, No. 26 and Franklin, No. 32) were distant cousins. If there is any relationship between Andrew Johnson (No. 17) and Lyndon B. Johnson (No. 36), it is unknown.

The latest James who was President was James Earl Carter #39.

Presidential Emergency Action Documents

National Emergencies Act (1976)

PEAD.wc-sullivan-fbi-memo-on-pads-1967-620 I’m an old political science major. Yet I was only vaguely aware of a Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs). The Brennan Center for Justice knows, though. They are “executive orders, proclamations, and messages to Congress that are prepared in anticipation of a range of emergency scenarios.

“PEADs are classified ‘secret,’ and no PEAD has ever been declassified or leaked. Indeed, it appears that they are not even subject to congressional oversight.”

I recommend that you check out CBS Sunday Morning from 16 August 2020, at 3:50. Better, go or here with full text, which runs a little over 10 minutes. “Ted Koppel investigates White House directives, granting vast powers to the president, that are so secret even Congress cannot see them.”

Almost without limit

“Although PEADs themselves remain a well-kept secret, over the years a number of unclassified or de-classified documents have become available that discuss PEADs. Through these documents, we know that there were 56 PEADs in effect as of 2018, up from 48 a couple of decades earlier. PEADs undergo periodic revision, these documents are mostly in PDF format, so software as Soda PDF is required to open them. Although we do not know what PEADs contain today, we know that PEADs in past years—
-authorized detention of “alien enemies” and other “dangerous persons” within the United States;
-suspended the writ of habeas corpus by presidential order;
-provided for various forms of martial law;
-issued a general warrant permitting search and seizure of persons and property;
-established military areas such as those created during World War II;
-suspended production of the Federal Register;
-declared a State of War; and
-authorized censorship of news reports.”

The CBS News piece is troubling. In part, it’s because it quotes the incumbent. In March 2020, he stated, “I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about.” The following month, “when discussing guidelines to be issued to governors about reopening states during the coronavirus pandemic,” he said something I found quite chilling. “‘When somebody is the President of the United States, the authority is total, and that’s the way it’s got to be – it’s total.'”

Alarming

Worse, in a January 2019 article in The Atlantic, Elizabeth Goitein notes The Alarming Scope of the President’s Emergency Powers.

Aiming to rein in this proliferation [of Presidential declarations], Congress passed the National Emergencies Act in 1976. Under this law, the president still has complete discretion to issue an emergency declaration. But he must specify in the declaration which powers he intends to use… The state of emergency expires after a year unless the president renews it. The Senate and the House must meet every six months while the emergency is in effect ‘to consider a vote’ on termination.

“By any objective measure, the law has failed. Thirty states of emergency are in effect… And during the 40 years that the law has been in place, Congress has not met even once, let alone every six months, to vote on whether to end them.

“As a result, the president has access to emergency powers contained in 123 statutory provisions, as recently calculated by the Brennan Center for Justice, where Goitein works.

Those of us who believe in democracy don’t want ANY President with this much power. And certainly, not one who has suggested he would use it indiscriminately.

Presidents Day: living exes

The pendulum now swings the other way

herbert hoover — Herbert Hoover, 31st President (1929-1933) lived until 1964

There have been times in this nation’s history when the United States has had only one living President, and others when we’ve had as many as six current and former Commanders-in-Chief.

Of course, George Washington was the first President (April 30, 1789-March 4, 1797). When he died on December 14, 1799, his successor, John Adams, was the only living President until March 4, 1801, when Thomas Jefferson took over.

These things wax and wane. From March 4, 1861 to January 18, 1862, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler (who died on the latter date), Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and the then-current occupant, Abraham Lincoln were all alive.

Yet, a decade and a half later, the US experienced the longest period with no living ex-Presidents, from July 31, 1875, when Andrew Johnson died, until the end of Ulysses Grant’s term on March 4, 1877. Taylor (1850) and Lincoln (1865) had died in office, and other ex-Presidents died relatively shortly after leaving the office.

And then, there were none

When Grover Cleveland died on June 24, 1908, there were no living ex-Presidents until Theodore Roosevelt’s term ended in March 1909, and Howard Taft became President.

Calvin Coolidge died on January 5, 1933, making lame-duck Herbert Hoover as the only living President until Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s inauguration in March.

Richard Nixon became the only living President when Lyndon B. Johnson died on January 22, 1973 until Nixon resigned and Gerald Ford took over on August 9, 1974.

The pendulum now swings the other way.
From January 20, 1993 to April 22, 1994: Nixon (died on the latter date), Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton (incumbent)

From January 20, 2001 to June 4, 2004: Ford, Carter, Reagan (died on the latter date), GHW Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush (incumbent)

From January 20, 2017 to November 30, 2018: Carter, GHW Bush (died on the latter date), Clinton, GW Bush, Barack Obama, Trump (incumbent)

Losing for winning

Sometimes, the person who loses the popular vote wins the Presidency.
1824 – John Quincy Adams lost both the electoral and popular votes but won the election. Because none of the four candidates, including his eventual successor Andrew Jackson, won a majority in the Electoral College, the vote was sent to the House of Representatives. They decided JQ was the best man for the job.

1876 – Rutherford B. Hayes who won the disputed electoral vote v. Samuel J. Tilden who won the popular vote

1888 – Benjamin Harrison won the electoral vote v. Grover Cleveland who won the popular vote. Cleveland both preceded and succeeded Harison

2000 – George W. Bush won the electoral vote v. Al Gore who won the popular vote.

2016 = Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.8 million, a lead of 48.3% to 46.2%. But her opponent received 304 electoral votes to her 227.

Also

Why No One Can Agree on What George Washington Thought About the Relationship Between Church and State

Lincoln bible unveiled in Springfield, IL

Now I Know: Almost Saved By the Bell

Z is for Abraham Zapruder, who filmed JFK’s asassination

Presidents Day 2019: Second Bill of Rights

“The unrestricted competition so commonly advocated does not leave us the survival of the fittest. The unscrupulous succeed best in accumulating wealth.”

Abraham Lincoln 1836 — Abraham Lincoln, Congressman-elect from Illinois. icholas H. Shepherd, photographer. Springfield, Ill., 1846 or 1847

Some Presidential trivia:

From Summer Bowl 9 (Chuck Miller)

Donald Trump has 24, Ronald Reagan has 10, and John Tyler has the most at 30. The most what?

Who was the last U.S. President who did not nominate a judge for the U.S. Supreme Court?

JEOPARDY! game #7807 aired 2018-07-17

CITING THE PRESIDENT $400: In the 1970s: “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal”
CITING THE PRESIDENT $800: In the 1970s: “Our long national nightmare is over”
CITING THE PRESIDENT $1200: “I do not expect the Union to be dissolved–I do not expect the house to fall–but I do expect it will cease to be divided”
CITING THE PRESIDENT $2000: In an early 20th c. message to Congress: “We have stood apart, studiously neutral”
CITING THE PRESIDENT $2,000 (Daily Double): In the early 20th c.: “I took the canal zone, & let Congress debate, & while the debate goes on the canal does also”

JEOPARDY! game #7806 aired 2018-07-16

4, 4 (two words, each with four letters) $1000: In 1848 Martin Van Buren was the presidential candidate of this party that opposed slavery in western territories

JEOPARDY! game #7868 aired 2018-11-21

PRESIDENTIAL IRONY, Final Jeopardy! 1 of the 2 Presidents who offered Daniel Webster the VP slot; he declined both, thinking the job went nowhere.

Answers below.

Why Thomas Jefferson Owned a Qur’an

Why James Madison would say our real problem is not misinformation

“The unrestricted competition so commonly advocated does not leave us the survival of the fittest. The unscrupulous succeed best in accumulating wealth.” Rutherford B. Hayes

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s State of the Union Message to Congress, January 11, 1944, including the Second Bill of Rights:
“We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence… People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.
“In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all — regardless of station, race, or creed.”

“I don’t give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them, and they think it’s Hell.” – Harry S Truman, 1948

“If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1956

The Eisenhower Matrix

When the President and His Chef Feuded Over Cold Beans

Thursday, August 8, 1974: the night that Richard M. Nixon resigned the presidency (three hours)

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter pass up riches to live modest, giving and truthful lives

George HW Bush was a complex man who somehow perfectly embodied a simpler time: both a blue-blood and, to quote Nixon, a ‘nut-cutter’ who knew how to carry out the dirty work of politics

When New York Tried to Take Away a W

What Obama secretly did at Sandy Hook Elementary School

Pastor: When White Folks Say Obama Was an ‘Embarrassment’, Here’s What You Say

One Last Time (44 Remix) – Christopher Jackson, Barack Obama, Bebe Winans #Hamildrop

Answers to quizzes:

Summer Bowl 9:
The number of the age difference between the President and his First Lady
Jimmy Carter

JEOPARDY!
Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Abe Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Teddy Roosevelt
Free Soil
William Henry Harrison or Zachary Taylor

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and John Kennedy talking at their wedding reception, Newport, Rhode Island / Toni Frissell. 1907-1988, photographer, 12 September 1953

Photos from the Library of Congress. No known copyright restrictions.