I love reading books on current events -- but I love it when the books were written years before, even decades.  It gives them a perspective when reading them today that wouldn't have existed at the time, and without the filter of the present.  For instance I recall reading a book several years ago about Washington that have been written 25 years earlier, and it had some noble quotes from a Congressman about the responsibility the White House has in dealing truthfully with the public.  The then-Congressman was Dick Cheney.  Last year, I was reading a book about golf that had been written 10-15 years ago.  One of the golfers was talking about a couple pro-am tournaments he'd been in with a public figure, and he was scathing in his comments about his amateur partner, who was Donald Trump.  Those words couldn't be dismissed for any political bias -- they were said a long time before, when Trump was a relatively minor figure.

Such things occasionally happen in the world of fiction, though it's of course a totally different matter.  But sometimes you do read a passage written long ago that has spot-on resonance to today.

I'm almost finished reading a novel by James Michener, conveniently titled, The Novel, one of his later works written in 1991.  Over the weekend, I read this passage that was written 27 years ago.  One of the main characters from the Pennsylvania Dutch country  is traveling in Greece with a British literary scholar.  As they visit the ancient location of Sparta, the professor talks about how powerful the Spartans had been.  "All decisions were made by military juntas.  Best armies in the world, conquerors of everything.  And in the end the dictatorship strangled itself, because free men can always best a tyranny -- not defeat it, outlast it."  The two men then wander around, exploring the area, coming upon the ruins of buildings, none of them showing the grandeur of Greece or even the successes of the Spartan military.  Just the destroyed remains.  And then the professor made a further observation --

"When I was in the United States I had the mournful feeling that eighty percent of your people would welcome a Spartan dictatorship if it promised to improve the schools, discipline the minorities, put women back in their place, install a religious  supremacy and terminate the silliness of the Bill of Rights.  Many modern Americans would leap at such an offer, it seemed to me, which is why I wanted you to see Sparta.  Because what you see here is what such a choice always leads to."

Fortunately, Michener had his percentage wrong.  Unfortunately, he was uncannily and eerily spot on about the rest, including his subsequent observation of "Many" Americans today.

And anyone who questions the description of the Trump administration as being Fascist, the words he describes of a military dictatorship are precisely that.  And are difficult to separate what the White House is promoting.

Yes, it's fiction.  Written by a man who wrote about history -- in both fiction and non-fiction -- for half a century.  And understood it very well.

Earlier today, May 11, the following tweet was posted with a brief footnote to history and its connection with subsequent advances in technology.
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That brought about the following reply from Garry Kasparov, the outspoken Russian exile and political activist who is chairman of the Human Rights Foundation.  I burst out laughing the moment I saw it.

You see, among his many accomplishments...he was the World Chess Champion in 1997.
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Oh, okay, we can't go through his 312th birthday without a song from 1776, for goodness sake.  Here's Howard DaSilva, William Daniels and Ken Howard -- all of whom I saw in the original Broadway production (on my first-ever trip to New York, by the way.  In fact, the first stage musical I ever saw on Broadway.  Not a bad start, eh?) -- in "The Egg."
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And as a bonus for good measure, in honor of Franklin's scientific achievements...what the heck, here is "Let's Go Fly a Kite," from ​Mary Poppins.

The good fellow was born on this day, January 17, 1706.  So, he'd have been a frisky 312 today, if it wasn't for that darned gout.

While I know it would most leap out to have some songs about Franklin for the musical 1776, instead I'm going with another Broadway musical, Ben Franklin in Paris.  The show starred none other than Robert Preston and, though not successful still had a solid run of 215 performances, about half a year.  It tells the story of Franklin going to France to try and raise money for the American Revolution.  The musical opened in 1964 and has a score by Sidney Michaels and March Sandrich Jr.  The songs are just fair overall, though there are several which are quite nice -- two of which I'll post here.  (When the show was out of town, Jerry Herman was brought in to work on it, and added two songs, neither of which are these below.)

The first is my favorite, and happily there's video of it.  "Half the Battle."

The second number actually had a little bit of a life outside the show, with several recordings, including one by Robert Goulet.  "Look for Small Pleasures," sung by Preston and the female lead Ulla Sallert.
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The only week when Trump was getting into his snit-fit was Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson, some people on social media were posting video clips of lawyer Joseph Welch during the famous climax of the Army-McCarthy Hearings calling out Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) with his "At long last, sir, have you no sense of decency" speech. Welch was special counsel for the Army.  With the hearings broadcast on television during the early days of the medium, the moment was widely viewed and seen as one of the several turning points in helping end the period of McCarthyism.

That clip most-likely exists today for its use in the wonderful documentary, Point of Order, by Emile de Antonio and Daniel Talbot, about those Senate hearings.  So, I thought it would be worthwhile to post the full, riveting film here, which I suspect most people haven't seen.

It was made in 1964, a decade after the hearings themselves.  Several versions of the documentary exist, since it was edited a few times for different purposes, including showing on television, but this is the original.  It runs about 90 minutes.

I am generally loathe to post full movies here, but there are qualifications.  In this case, though a DVD does exist of the film, it's not only incredibly difficult to find, but the prices I've seen for it are in the hundreds of dollars, $264 is one that stands out.  And from that, I suspect that the purchase price is not going to the rights holders, but just some individual trying to sell his used copy.  The original DVD may well be out-of-print at this point, so posting it here is the only way to see the film.

This particular video is captioned for the hard of hearing, and unfortunately there's no way to turn that off, so it might be a bit distracting, but the film is well-worth it.

One final...er, point of order is that when you see McCarthy's venal lawyer, Roy Cohn, sitting on the committee, know that later in his life he was one of Trump's early political mentors.  During his last years when he was dying of AIDS and had other troubles, he reached out for assistance from Trump and was ignored.  He died in 1986 and I believe is currently rotting in hell, awaiting arrival of his prize pupil.
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For reasons I don't quite understand, they've brought back the game show, The Tell the Truth.  Of the major game shows of that era -- notably I've Got a Secret and What's My Line?, I find it the least interesting, and even sort of annoying.  While I know it's the one that's most-easy for the home audience to play along with, there are two huge problems for me.  The first is that when you have an interesting guest...two-thirds of the time you're not hearing what he or she has to say, and worse, for all you know, what you're hearing about this interesting guest may not even be remotely true, but one of the impostors guessing.  But secondly, what bothers me the most is that, after the real-life, interesting person is identified, and you'd love to hear what this remarkable person has to say, now that we know who it is -- the show uses this post-guessing time to interview the two other people!  When we want to hear from the actual, real person, we instead hear from the two fakes!!  Honestly, I don't care who the two fakes are, I want to hear from the Actual, Real Person.

It's for that reason I don't post many clips from To Tell the Truth.  But once in a while, I come across a guest who's so fascinating to see in person, that it's outdoes any hindrances.  Sometimes, at this point, decades later, we can identify who it is when the game starts and watch while knowing.  But even if we can't, we do find out at the end, and can go back and replay the thing.

This is one of those times.  It comes from the October 10, 1960.

I suspect that most people here have seen the movie, Inherit the Wind, about the famous "Monkey" Trial (or Scopes Trial, as it was also know). That was based on the stage play written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (no, not that one...) -- who oddly enough also wrote another famous play totally different in subject and tone, Auntie Mame (which they later adapted themselves as bookwriters of the musical version, Mame.)  The play, of course, told a fictionalized version of the battle between Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, over schoolteacher John Scopes, who had taught evolution and Darwin's Origin of the Species which was against the law in Tennessee.

Well...the guest here is -- John Scopes!  Yes, the actual, real.  Even the panelists are impressed.  (As one notes, "It's like having a national monument here.)

The questioning is sort of bizarre.  (The polite term for "bad.")  They spend so much time asking about the casting of Inherit the Wind, rather than the Scopes Trial.  And what he went through.  And the history of the time. Worse, they ask about the casting of the two lawyers...and not who played Scopes himself!  The guy who is right there in front of them they're trying to guess.

Still, it's great fun to see, odd questioning and all.

Fortunately, he's the first guest, so you don't have to scroll through.  And happily, since when I do watch the show I'm not very good at it, I guessed correctly here.  Unfortunately, as always, no, they don't talk to him afterwards.  Just the two fakes.  Sigh...

"The poem you are referring to is not part of the original Statue of Liberty. It was added later.”
-- Stephen Miller, White House spokesman, dismissing "The New Colossus" poem about immigrants

To paraphrase the great Molly Ivins when she wrote about Pat Buchanan's culture war speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention, Stephen Miller's press conference yesterday probably sounded better in the original German.

A quarter century later, they haven't changed, still battling against immigrants.  Not even illegal immigrants, but in this case, legal ones!  Just as a starter, this position he made above trying to rewrite reality about the Statue of Liberty is one taken by many white supremacists and passed along on their websites.  Just a very quick historical note to Mr. Miller and any of his like-minded friends on the point of the words being "added later." So too was "Under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.  

(The words "Under God" were "added later" to the Pledge of Allegiance nine years after it was adopted.  So, perhaps by the standards of Stephen Miller and pals, God can be ignored in the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Almighty has no meaning to its intent.)

And as long as Mr. Miller and his white supremacist followers -- unless it's the other way around -- are so concerned about the lack of importance for anything "added later," it's worth noting that the Bill of Rights and all 27 Amendments were "added later" to the United States Constitution.  These include the Second Amendment which so many on the far right and white supremacists swear by, and also the First Amendment which allows them to say such stupid things without fear of incarceration or being thrown into the loony bin.  Moreover, as the inveterate Chris Dunn pointed out, 37 of the 50 states were "added later" to the United States  As was Washington, D.C. as capital of the nation.

By the way, so is water when you make Cup o' Soup.  Man, if Stephen Miller thinks the concept of "added later" means you can dismiss its importance, I'd like to see him try eating that dry mixture on its own.  Maybe in white supremacist world, but not in any delicious culinary universe I know.

Of course, given that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France, its "intent" is not from the Founding Fathers or the U.S. government in the first place, but rather...France.  When the words of Emma Lazarus were added to the Statue, that in and of itself is a specific act and absolutely clear intent of the government.  Besides, why do Miller and his merry band of white supremacists think it was put on the water's edge to greet incoming ships in the first place?  If it wasn't to welcome immigrants, they could have just put it in Nebraska, which needs a tourist attraction a whole lot more than New York.

And as long as we're dealing with history, reality and facts, the poem "The New Colossus" was written as a donation of artworks at an auction raising funds that would allow for constructing the pedestal under the Statue of Liberty -- three years before the the Statute itself was dedicated.  So, in fact, it is part of the history of the Statue of Liberty pedestal on which it is engraved, before the pedestal even existed!!

Alas, all of this is really pretty much for naught.  For all the Sturm und Drang from the White House and the belligerent Stephen Miller yesterday on this anti-immigrant bill, reporter Sam Stein of the Huffington Post commented on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell that the proposal has NO chance of passage.  And every other panelist agreed.  But at least the administration got its dog whistle out to the base, and its white supremacist wing.  However many dwindling dogs there are.

But still, just as a reminder --

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Heading back On the Road with Charles Kuralt, this is a much more wistful piece than usual, as he looks at Fort Motte, South Carolina, one of the many small towns in the South disappearing as a way of life is gone, and the once-sleepy cities grow.

This is too bizarre and hilarious. Now Golf Digest is uncovering Trump stories.

On Trump's golf course in Virginia, there his a memorial, signed by Trump himself, honoring the dead soldiers in a Civil War battle so bloody apparently that it's called "The River of Blood." Unfortunately, there's one big problem -- the battle NEVER TOOK PLACE!

(The "funniest" part of the article is when a reporter asked Trump about it, and the best he could come up with as a response was, "How would they know that?  Were they there?"  No, but they're scholars and study and do actual research from records of accounts of military actions from the army and from people who were -- in fact, really -- there.)

And so now we can add one more to our honor roll of moments of silence in memory and the fallen in non-existent massacres and faux-battles of today and throughout history --

Remember Bowling Green.

Remember Atlanta.

Remember Sweden.

Remember The River of Blood.

And in the end, once again, we find the real source and admirer of creating fake news.  It's a third-graders gambit: if you don't know the answer on your test, make it up and hope the teacher won't notice.  And suddenly, Trump not knowing that Frederick Douglass died 120 years ago, that China and Korea have a complicated history going back 1,500 years, and that Andrew Jackson died 16 years before he could have solved the Civil War becomes ever more clear.  And gives fodder to those planning to sue Trump University for fraud.

You can read the article about it here.