U.S. Marine Corps women's boot camp, 1943

By Jack Brummet

This is a photo of my mom, Betty, in Marine Corps boot camp in 1943. She's in the top row, fourth from the left. On her right is her friend Loa (she named my sister after her).

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Drawing: Faces No. 1924 — In the priority lane

by Jack Brummet

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Drawing: Faces No. 1932 — Witnesses 1-130, The United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

by Jack Brummet

click to enlarge or save

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Poem: [You can't see earth]

By Jack Brummet

1 
You can't see earth
From the dark side of the moon
But maybe that changes

With the accelerating deceleration
Of the moon and earth.
A waning Gibbous moon

Dangles 1.3 light seconds away,
The Sea of Tranquility
A menacing sinkhole.

2
The moon
And fog
Are in cahoots.

Do our brains have a tide?

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Drawing: Faces 1922 — waiting for a four top

By Jack Brummet

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Sonnet: The green knight

By Jack Brummet

On the floor in the distance
Bercilak de Hautdesert
Battle-axe in one hand
A branch of holly in the other
Walks toward you
And asks if you want to play a gameYou swing the axe
His helmet flies
And the head tumbles down the hall
The Green Knight picks it up
And tells you to meet him
At the Green Chapel New Year's morning
For his exchange blow
The head is laughing in his arms.
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Drawing: Faces 1921 — India Ink scratchboard

By Jack Brummet

Digitally reversed scratchboard:

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Truckin': The President tries out a big rig

The President met with a group of truckers and trucking CEOs at the White House Thursday afternoon, "to discuss healthcare."  Here are images from the photo-op.

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Richard Nixon's Commandments of Statecraft

1) Always be prepared to negotiate, but never negotiate without being prepared.

2) Never be belligerent, but always be firm.

3) Always remember that covenants should be openly agreed to but privately negotiated.

"Public tactics tend to harden the opposition. 
Successful diplomatic or business negotiators resist the temptation to grandstand or make public demands that can be interpreted as threats."

4) Never seek publicity that would destroy the ability to get results.

5) Never give up unilaterally what could be used as a bargaining chip. Make your adversaries give something for everything they get.

6) Never let your adversary underestimate what you would do in response to a challenge. Never tell Him what you would not do.

7) Always leave your adversary a face-saving line of retreat.

8) Always carefully distinguish between friends who provide some human rights and enemies who deny all human rights.

9) Always do at least a much for our friends as our adversaries do for our enemies.

10) Never lose faith.  In just cause faith can move mountains. Faith without strength is futile; but strength without faith is sterile.

11) "Sometimes leaders are hesitant about executing strong and controversial measures in the belief that a less than full-hearted operation mutes criticism. When you once decide, go with all your might."

12) "When saying 'always' and 'never,' always keep a mental reservation; never foreclose the unique exception; always leave room for maneuver. A president always has yet to be prepared for what he thought he would never do." 

A message from God on a church readerboard

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Drawing: Faces 1919 — The gallery at the Gorsuch hearings

Detail:

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Statues from Rapid City, Iowa's City of Presidents (with images of Nixon, Van Buren, FDR, Coolidge, Harrison, and Grant)

To learn more, do a search on City of Presidents statues, or start at the Rapid City presidents website .

They do not yet have a statue of Barack Obama or Donald Trump.  President Obama's is on the way.  President Trump's will come after he finishes his term (in whatever fashion!).

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