President Reagan and Vladimir Putin. . .23 years ago?

By Jack Brummet
Presidential History Editor

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I missed this photo/controversy when it first appeared two years ago.  People seem absolutely convinced this is Vladimir Putin posing as a tourist.  The Russians vehemently deny this is him at all.  There are fairly tantalizing arguments on either side of the question.

According to Pete Souza, "President Barack Obama's official photographer, a picture he took in Red Square 21 years ago indicates that Mr Putin was part of a KGB plot to embarrass Reagan on his first ever visit to Moscow."

Kremlin officials are said to be angry about the emergence of Mr Souza's photograph, and believe it is an attempt to smear Mr Putin.  Russian experts (e.g., "experts in Russia") claim that the young man dressed in a tight t-shirt with a camera slung around his neck is not Mr Putin.

Souza told National Public Radio in the United States that the incident occurred when Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet general secretary, toured Red Square in the Summer of 1988.  Reagan was led to a group of Russian tourists who were allegedly positioned in Red Square to ask a series of pointed questions about America's human rights record.

Souza now says that a secret service officer told him the tourists were in fact "all KGB families."

"Now what is really interesting is a picture I have in my Reagan book," he said. "Off to the left is one of these tourists with a camera around his shoulder and it has been pointed out to me and verified that that was Putin. As soon as you see the picture you go: 'Oh my gosh, it really is him.'"

Experts in Moscow, however, call B.S.  During Reagan's visit, Putin was serving as a mid-ranking KGB spy in Dresden and would not have been called to Moscow to help with a dirty trick.  The Russians also note that the man in the photograph has a thicker head of hair than Mr Putin ever did.

Yeah, it does resemble the Prime Minister.  But I could really go either way. . .

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Drawing: The Parts

By Jack Brummet

[pen and ink on 24" x 24" muslin surplus hospital drawcloth] - click to enlarge

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Happy Flag Day!

By Mona Goldwater
Tea Party-GOP Analyst

From a Flag Day 2010 Wonkette.com post:  Here is how to display the flag with dignity:

1. Get an Army flag, too, from Big Lots or whatever. Israel flags are fine, too.
2. Throw the flag over the bar stool — the one covered in baby vomit and cheeto dust — and just lean on the American Flag, like a slob.
3. Wear pantyhose while jogging, for some reason.
4. If the flag touches the carpet, ticks could get on it. That’s not allowed according to the Constitution.

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Alien Lore No. 209 - The Greatest Story Ever Denied

By Jack Brummet
Paranormal Editor

UFO - Greatest Story Ever Denied is an hour and a half long rundown of some of the most interesting and provocative Grey/UFO events following the Roswell crash in 1946.   One focus is the "Battle of LA," in which government forces fired upon which they thought was a UFO, but later claimed was a weather balloon. The film includes amazing photographs of Klieg lights trained on UFOs in the skies above LA and a radio broadcast describing the 1,500 rounds that were shot at the unidentified craft -- without hitting a single one! The documentary also covers some of the early military "cover-ups," and information about UFOs that researchers claim are invisible and can only be seem with infrared cameras.

"The nations of this world will have to unite for the next war will be an interplanetary war. The nations of the Earth must some day make a common front against attack by people from other planets." -- General Douglas MacArthur October 8, 1955

I try to avoid reading the comments on YouTube--generally you feel like you need a bath after reading them.  In this case, I did enjoy one commenter who suggests that the reason there has been no public acknowledgement of UFOs and Greys is that the Greys signed a mutual non-disclosure agreement with the "nations of earth."

"To me, the most compelling reason why UFOs have never been publicly acknowledged is that there must be a non-disclosure agreement between the ETs and the nations of the earth. When a nation asks "Why should we agree to not disclose your existence?" the reply might have been, "Remember the Tunguska Event?" "Yes." "We can do that on a much more massive scale. It's up to you."

"Fear is a powerful motivator."

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Living Presidents of the United States

By Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor
illustration by Jack Brummet
We have a pretty good crop of living Presidents right now.  In 2001-2004, there were six, and there were a couple of other groups of six in our history, some fives, and on and on.  There have been six Presidents who, while they were in office (or during their terms) were the sole living President (George Washington (1789–97), John Adams (1799–1801), Ulysses S. Grant (1875–77), Theodore Roosevelt (1908–09), Herbert Hoover (1933), and Richard Nixon (1973–74).

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The collected Weiner Tweets from All This Is That

By Pablo Fanque,
National Affairs Editor

Although we didn't write many (any?) pieces on ATIT about the Weiner Broil, we did indeed keep up and did a fair amount of tweeting on the subject (probably 2/3 of them were from Jack).  And with this, I don't think we'll be doing much thinking about The Honorable Representative from New York,  unless he announces he's running for President, hangs himself or something similarly drastic. 

The All This Is That Tweets:

I think the Weiner story cycle is finally detumescing. #WeinerGate #FadeToBlack

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@RickSantorumPRRick Santorum PR RT @RickSantorumPR "We may have our differences; but I'm impressed by how Nancy Pelosi handles Weiner." 

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"Pelosi Demands Removal of Weiner" #WeinerHeadlines #SexRehab 

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@AlecBaldwin I thought your piece on Weiner was sensitive, thoughtful, and apt. So, are the knuckleheads taking you to task?

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"Boehner Won't Bite on Weiner" http://bit.ly/lLUdy7 Yes, the real headline. #WeinerHeadlines 

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Borowitz on Weiner's press conference: “It’s tough to know what he was really thinking because he was standing behind a podium.” 

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Women Who Received Pictures of Weiner March on Washington ("Traffic snarled for miles") Borowitz--> http://bit.ly/l1wCFD 

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Ethics panel plans to grill Weiner. #Weinerheadlines

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"The congressman had a sex scandal and had to apologize to Bill Clinton? For what?! Copyright infringement?" —Jon Stewart
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Harry Reid:--"Senator, what advice would you give him if he asked you?" Reid: "Call somebody else." #deadmanwalking

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Glenn Beck, Anthony Weiner, John Boehner and remembering back to when Edmund Muskie's crying speech ended his Pr... http://bit.ly/j9xtNv

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Anthony Weiner: Dead Man Walking: In his delayed press conference this afternoon, Congressman Anthony Weiner sa... http://bit.ly/irLwjz

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RT@samsteinhp "were you fully erect!?" Reporter asks to close out press conference. PERFECT

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live from the press conf--[boohoos] Weiner: I lied. I did it all. I'm not resigning. #deadmanwalking 

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RT @BorowitzReport: What every parent needs to know: http://bit.ly/kZ0leE How to talk about Anthony Weiner w/ your kids! #Ick 

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Juli Weiner To Anthony Weiner, On Weiner Jokes: ‘It Gets Better’ http://bit.ly/k9fh2Q #AnyOneWantOdds? 

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Weiner's quote "I can't say with certitude [it's mine]" goes down w/ "I did not inhale" as feeblest ever... #DidntWorkForBill

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Scared Tweetless --http://www.webpronews.com/weinergate-scares-congressional-tweeters-2011-06
#ScaredTweetless #Weinergate #RunningScared

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Digital art: Five Presidents Standing

by Jack Brummet

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Faces No 221 and 222 - four scratchboard sketches from April, 2010, Udaipur, India

And, the same analog image, digitally reversed. . .click to enlarge

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Faces No. 220: 'cube mates - drawings by Jack Brummet

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Faces No. 218 - drawing by Jack Brummet

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From The Archives: The NYC Slides, Part 2

By Jack Brummet
Chief Archivist


A couple of months ago, I began scanning a box of slides we have from the years 1973 to around 1983. I posted them on Facebook because many of the surviving subjects/participants are on there. I always intended to also put them on All This Is That. And, now, I am finally getting around to it. This new batch is from the years we lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn (1977-1982). Coming next, Bellingham, Seattle, and Europe.

Click all photos to enlarge. Right click to download.

Jerry, Vicki, Kevin in the garden next doot yo 158 W. 84th St.

collaped lung/double pneumonia, 1977

Frances, 1978, in NYC

Jack, Cheryl, and Keelin outside a cabaret

Colin and Karen ??, NYC, 1977

Vicki and Jack on the subway

Pinky and Jack at work @ Carl Fischer, 62 Cooper Square

Keelin at a dairy restaurant in Chelsea?

Jack, Julius Caesar, and Kevin/Franco

Jack and Jack at 158 W 84th St

Colin Curran, 1966

Jack on the Brooklyn Promenade with WTC in the background

Keelin on our rooftop of our loft at 351 Jay Street

Vicki, Jack, and Jerry at 158

Jack and Mary Durkan-Jones outside our apartment on Chrystie Street near The Bowery

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From The Archives: The NYC Slides, Part 1

By Jack Brummet
Chief Archivist

A couple of months ago, I began scanning a box of slides we have from the years 1973 to around 1983.  I posted them on Facebook because many of the surviving subjects/participants are on there.  I always intended to also put them on All This Is That.  And, now, I am finally getting around to it.  This first batch is from the years we lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn (1977-1982).

Click all photos to enlarge. Right click to download.

Parade in Brooklyn, shot from our fire escape at 324 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn

Franco, Claudia Curran, Nick, and me at President Nixon's brownstone, 1980

Jack and Franco, late at night on the UWS

Me, Nick, and Franco on our stoop on West 84th Street

Me with a wonderful painting Pinky and Cheryl Loaned us for the entire time we lived on 84th St

Jerry Melin and Jan, Upper West Side, 1981

Me, with my gal and my pal.  In heaven, or what?

Keelin, across the street from our apartment in Brooklyn

Keelin, Jan, and Jack in Brooklyn

Franco posing near faux armor, NYC

Franco and Nick outside a theatre in NY?

Nick, Franco, Jack, and Topiary

Miya (heart)

'Moto. but not quote sure where...it probablyis not Manhattan

'Moto, Nick, Kevin, and Jack on our stoop @ 158 W. 84th St. NYC

Nick, 'Moto, and Franco aka Kevin

Sean, on our fire escape at the Atlantic Avenue Parade

Pinky, turning Japanese.

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