Chamblee54

Booknotes featured an interview with Hendrik (Rick) Hertzberg, who does something for The New Yorker. BTW, the majority of TNY readers live west of the Hudson River. Supposedly, the biggest number of readers is in California.
In 1965, Mr. Hertzberg was about to get drafted. At the time, this meant a one way ticket to Vietnam. Young men looked for alternatives to this, some of which were legal and moral. Mr. Hertzberg heard about an organization called the National Student Association. “And so I went to work after college for the National Student Association for a year. And it wasn`t just because the National Student Association was a wonderful cause that advanced liberal ideas and fought communism abroad and all of that sort of thing. Later, we learned that it was a CIA front, but I didn`t know that. What I did know was that if you worked for the National Student Association, you didn`t get drafted, that — it wasn`t exactly that you were deferred, but anyway, nobody got drafted while working for the National Student Association, so it was a way to have a year without worrying about getting drafted.”
The CIA was involved in all sorts of things in those days. (It still is today.) One of the fronts was Radio Free Europe. When I was a kid, the cartoon shows had a commercial for Radio Free Europe. These fund raising commercials were part of the scam. These commercials netted around $50k a year, towards a multi-million dollar budget.
The conversation turns to religion/tribal allegiance. (Charles, Booknotes host) LAMB: Explain this. “The Nuremberg laws would say I`m Jewish. The Law of Return would say I`m not.” HERTZBERG: Well, according to the Nuremberg laws, if you have a — if you had a Jewish father, the Nazi classification, you were a Jew. But the Law of Return, where — what entitles you to citizenship, automatic citizenship in Israel, you`ve got to have to have a Jewish mother. So I`m Jewish one way, I`m not Jewish the other way. I guess I feel sort of 51 percent Jewish because my name, Hertzberg, sounds Jewish, and therefore, people respond to me, often assume that I`m … 100 percent Jewish.”
This conversation was in 2004, when BHO was a little known Senator. Today, BHO, who had a white mother, is routinely considered black. If you go by the laws of the Nazis, BHO is black. If you go by the laws of Israel, BHO is white.
Mr. Hertzberg took a break from journalism to write speeches for President Jimmy Carter. Mr. Hertzberg is a member of the Judson Wellover Society. HERTZBERG: Judson Wellover was the very first White House speech writer. Not the first person to write speeches, ghost write speeches for a president — that would probably be Alexander Hamilton for George Washington — but the first person who was ever hired just to write speeches in the White House was Judson Wellover. He was hired by Warren G. Harding, and he — it was such a matter — it was such a shameful thing to have somebody writing — hired to write speeches that they hid his salary in the budget of the White House garage. And when we started, when Bill Safire and I started the Judson — the society of sort of a marching and chatter society or dinner — we have a dinner every couple of years of White House speech writers from all administrations, we named it after Judson Wellover.
Warren Harding is credited/blamed for coining the phrase “founding fathers”. Was Mr. Wellover involved? This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress. @RickHertzberg is still alive, but doesn’t seem to write as much.

3.14% of sailors are pi-rates.
A man tried to sell me a coffin today… I told him that’s the last thing I need.
Comedians who tell one too many lightbulb jokes soon burn out.
Did you hear about the crazy Mexican train thief? He had loco motives
Did you hear about the runner who was criticized? He just took it in stride
Don’t kiss your wife with a runny nose. You might think it’s funny, but it’s snot.
Feeling Cold? Go stand in a corner for a bit. They are usually around 90 degrees.
How do you count cows? With a cowculator!
How does a penguin build it’s house? Igloos it together.
I burnt my Hawaiian pizza last night… I should’ve put it on aloha setting.
I don’t trust stairs. They’re always up to something.
I hate perforated lines, they’re tearable
I just read a book about Stockholm syndrome. It was pretty bad at first, but by the end I liked it.
I was looking at my ceiling. Not sure if it’s the best ceiling in the world, but it’s up there.
If you want a job in the moisturiser industry, the best advice I can give is to apply daily.
Past, present, and future walked into a bar…. It was tense.
RIP boiled water. You will be mist.
Steak puns… They’re a rare medium, well done
Tell ya my chimney joke? Got stacks of em! First one’s on the house
The sign said “Television for Sale – $10 – Volume Stuck On Full”. I can’t turn that down.
There are 10 types of people: Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.
To the man in the wheelchair that stole my camouflage jacket… You can hide but you can’t run.
Today’s top fact: 50% of Canada is A
Want to hear a joke about construction? Nah, I’m still working on it.
Want to hear my pizza joke? Never mind, it’s too cheesy.
What days are the strongest? Saturday and Sunday, the rest are week days.
What did the Buddhist ask the hot dog vendor? “Make me one with everything.”
What do you call a fat psychic? A four-chin teller.
What do you get if you stand between two llamas? Llamanated.
What happened to the cow that jumped over the barbed wire fence? Udder destruction.
When my wife told me to stop impersonating a flamingo I had to put my foot down.
Why can’t you hear a pterodactyl using the bathroom? Because the P is silent
Why did the blind man fall into the well? Because he couldn’t see that well.
Why do trees seem suspicious on sunny days? Dunno, they’re just a bit shady.
You can’t run through a camp site. You can only ran, because it’s past tents.
You heard the rumor going around about butter? Nevermind, I shouldn’t spread it.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Similar material may be found at @baddadjokes.

Last week, Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson hosted Darryl Cooper, aka Martyrmade. DC has a podcast about history, with a series about Israel-Palestine especially well regarded. People who follow @martyrmade know that sometimes, DC says things you don’t want to hear.
The TSMC/DC gabfest … which was well sponsored by commercial interruptions … settled on World War 2. As with many historic events, WW2 has a standard American viewpoint, which you challenge at your peril. DC said things that you are not supposed to say. Many observers are outraged. One wonders how many of the angry commenters actually listened to the show.
I heard the show. Some points were reasonable, while others were not. It seems like we are going through another phase of our appreciation for that conflict. This is an ongoing historic process.
Some responses are wothwhile. As is often the case, you have to read a bit to find out anything.  @GrayConnolly “I am finally watching the @martyrmade / Tucker discussion on Churchill. I am not sure who among the critics have actually watched it. As I dislike Twitter pile-ons, I think everyone should watch what X says before X is put in the tumbril. My response as a Churchillian below.”
Look at the way America deals with the War Between the States. First there was a bloody war. After about sixty years, there started to be reconciliation, between the Union and the Confederacy. Now we are in Phase 3, where the only permitted dialog is condemnation of the Confederates.
This same reckoning is going on with WW2, and is not well received by some parties. WW1, which created many of the conditions which led to WW2, is mostly ignored. Maybe that is how this is going to go. Vietnam is always a contentious topic, while few talk about Korea. These things too shall pass. Pictures are from The Library of Congress · selah

PG saw a facebook post from his cousin. It was about the town he lives in: Wilton Named 83rd Drunkest Place to Live in Connecticut: Report It was based on a bit of creative clickbait, These Are The 10 Drunkest Places In Connecticut. This is a repost.
The distibutor of this information is RoadSnacks. “RoadSnacks is based in Durham, NC. We aim to deliver infotainment about where you live that your real estate agent won’t tell you. We use data, analytics, and a sense of humor to determine the dirt on places across the country.” Other information opportunities include: “TAT10 Poorest Places In Kentucky”, “TAT10 Drunkest Places In Pennsylvania”, “TAT10 Dumbest Cities In Illinois”, “TAT10 Cities In New Jersey With The Most Ashley Madison Accounts”, “TAT10 Snobbiest Places In Louisiana.”
When PG saw the initial TAT10, he wondered about Georgia. A google search was made for “TAT10 drunkest places in Georgia.” Apparently, RoadSnacks is still crunching the numbers on that one. Three enlightening features were available: TAT10 Most Dangerous Places In Georgia, TAT10 Most Ghetto Cities In Georgia, TAT10 Most Redneck Cities In Georgia.
TAT10 lists are not scientific. The criteria varies from study to study. (For more information, be sure to check the actual post.) In dangerous places, “If any places tied, we used the violent crime rank as a tiebreaker.” In ghetto and redneck, it seems to come down to the number of retail outlets. Ghetto was ranked by convenience stores, drug stores, beauty supply stores, and discount stores. Redneck is determined by dive bars, mobile home parks, tobacco stores, guns and ammo stores, Walmarts, Bass Pro Shops, Dollar Generals and Piggly Wigglys.
In OTP Atlanta, many areas change names at the county line. When you leave Dekalb County for Gwinnett, you go from Doraville into Norcross. One road you can do this on is Buford Hiway, which is lined with Asian businesses like My Dung video. This area is home to one of the metro area international communities, and is well known for ultra authentic restaurants. Well known by everyone except RoadSnacks.
According to the TAT10 body of knowledge, Doraville is the 5th most redneck city in Georgia. When you cross the county line, Norcross is the most ghetto city in Georgia. People who are familiar with this area are probably laughing right now. Especially when they see that most ghetto Norcross is also 15th most redneck. Doraville did not make the 90 spot list for most ghetto.
The most dangerous city in Georgia is College Park, with East Point in second place. Neither city was on the redneck list. On the ghetto list, College Park is 67, and East Point is 72.
The city of Brookhaven evidently has not been in existence long enough to be rated. The only list that included Chamblee was ghetto, at 55. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.