David Brooks's unexpected pro-Obama editorial

By Mona Goldwater, Democratic Primary and Caucus Ed.

Coming from David Brooks, this is pretty fascinating. Brooks praises President Obama's humanity, integrity, and decision making.   Read his fascinating editorial here. 

As our friend and reader Francis pointed out, after a brief flirtation with BHO over some pointy-headed philosophy, Brooks pretty much hunkered down and gently/fiercely hectored President Obama for the last seven years. This piece makes me like Brooks even more. I don't read editorials often, but when I do, I have liked his pieces. He's almost always wrong, but wrong in a right way. And he's right about President Obama.

"No, Obama has not been temperamentally perfect. Too often he’s been disdainful, aloof, resentful and insular. But there is a tone of ugliness creeping across the world, as democracies retreat, as tribalism mounts, as suspiciousness and authoritarianism take center stage. Obama radiates an ethos of integrity, humanity, good manners and elegance that I’m beginning to miss, and that I suspect we will all miss a bit, regardless of who replaces him."

For all the sniping now, it will only be a few short years before he is remembered fondly and, maybe, even beloved. David Brooks new found love of BHO's character may very well be influenced by the treachery, whoppers, hot air, bluster, and sewage he's been forced to consume in the 2015/16 GOP-Tea Party television debates.

How far back do we have to go to find a previous President with real integrity? '76 and Jimmy Carter? Cal Coolidge? Or maybe all the way back to Grover Cleveland (who is universally considered to be the most honest, integrity-riddled U.S. politician ever). Maybe Bernie Sanders is up there too. I don't know. But working across the aisle/bipartisanship always moves me, and I like that Brooks put this out there for the GOP and pundits to see.

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Citizen Trump and Senator Sanders's perception issues

By Jack Brummet, GOP-Tea Party Ed.

click to enlarge

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Sen. Sanders and Citizen Trump win the New Hampshire Primary

Sanders and Trump win the ‪#‎NewHampshirePrimary‬ tonight. As Dick Tuck once said, "The people have spoken. . .the bastards."

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Painting: Eight Nudes (digital)

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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In God We Trust's first appearance on U.S. currency

I'm all for hedging our bets and including every prophet and deity we can think of, up to and including Yaweh, Mohammed, Jeebo, The White Goddess, Frigg, Hailie Selassie, Gyhldeptis, Bikeh, Hozho , Lono, Waheguru, Mithra, Achiyalatopa, Manannan, mac Lir, The Eight Immortals, Baal, and Moloch.

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Drawing: Faces #1338 (Scratchboard)

By Jack Brummet

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Marco Rubio's Rick Perry moment.

By Jack Brummet, GOP/Tea Party Ed.

Rubio had his long overdue Rick Perry moment tonight when Christie had him on the ropes and he repeated the same thing--nearly verbatim--four times.  His aides made him memorize six short index cards, and when the time came he could only remember the Obama one. 

He'll drop in the polls overnight and the contributors will stop answering the phones as of now.

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Drawing: Faces #1337 - parts

By Jack Brummet

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Drawing: Faces #1334 - India Ink scratchboard

By Jack Brummet

 

Digitally reversed image:

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Poem: The Quest

By Jack Brummet

Public domain image, "Soria Moria," painted by by Theodor Kittelsen in 1914.

It’s all one story—

                           A ragged

                                        Shape-shifting tale

Of incredible coherence and constance,
                           Encompassing all you know,
                                         All you don’t know you know.
                                                           
There is more
                            To be seen, tasted, heard, and felt
                                         Than can ever be known or told.

Our myths flourish and spread,
                              Person to person, 

                                          And mysteries of the seas, skies and stars

                                                           

Fill our collective conscience

                              With mystical scenes,

       Quests, and tales of greatness.

These myths, tales, and fables
                              Cannot be invented,

                                           Or ordered, or denied.

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President Ronald Reagan on the movie ET and alien life

By Jack Brummet, Alien Lore Ed.

Over the years, RWR made many references and allusions to UFOs and aliens/greys, including discussing the time he saw a UFO. He and Nancy were portrayed in one of the last episodes (maybe the last) of the great series #DarkSkies.

Here is an audio clip and transcript of Steven Spielberg discussing Reagan's reaction to the film ET.

Quint: "Now, I've heard a story that I wanted to run by you. I have no idea if it's true, but an effects friend of mine told me about a special screening of E.T. for Ronald Reagan. Have you heard this story?"

Steven Spielberg: "I was there!"

Quint: "The story I heard is that when Reagan saw it he started talking about how close to reality it was and he was quickly ushered out of the room. Is that true?"

Steven Spielberg: No, he wasn't ushered out of the room. He was the President of the United States! Nobody could usher Ronald Reagan out of the room! It was in the White House screening room and Reagan got up to thank me for bringing the film to show the President, the First Lady and all of their guests, which included Sandra Day O'Connor in her first week of as a Justice of the Supreme Court, and it included some astronauts... I think Neil Armstrong was there, I'm not 100% certain, but it was an amazing, amazing evening. 

"He just stood up and he looked around the room, almost like he was doing a headcount, and he said, "I wanted to thank you for bringing E.T. to the White House. We really enjoyed your movie," and then he looked around the room and said, "And there are a number of people in this room who know that everything on that screen is absolutely true." And he said it without smiling! But he said that and everybody laughed, by the way. The whole room laughed because he presented it like a joke, but he wasn't smiling as he said it."

"The room did laugh and then later on I'll never forget my conversation with the President. He pulled me aside, he said... and I can't do Reagan. I wish I could do that breathy, wonderful voice of his... And Nancy Reagan was standing right next to him and the President said to me, "I only have one criticism about your movie," and I said "What's that?" He said, "How long were the end credits?" I said, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe three, three and a half minutes?" He said, "In my day, when I was an actor, our end credits were maybe 15 seconds long." He said, "Why don't you let everybody get a credit... three and a half, four minutes, that's fine, but only show that inside the industry, but throughout the rest of the country reduce your credits to 15 seconds at the end?" Nancy Reagan turned to him and said, "Oh, Ronny, they can't do that. You know that." And he went, "Oh, yes, yes. I suppose." (laughs) That was the extent of my conversation about that. That was his only criticism, he felt the end credits were too long! Quint: So, do you think he actually let something slip there? Steven Spielberg: I don't think he let something slip there, no. I think he delivered a joke without smiling, without a little bit of a twinkle behind the joke. I think the joke landed because everybody laughed, but because I'm a little bit of a Ufologist I was hoping that there was something more to the joke than met my eye. I'm sorry to say I think he was simply trying to tell a joke."

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Drawing: Faces #1334 - Lone Gunman

By Jack Brummet

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