Journalist Drew Pearson was most famous for his syndicated column “Washington Merry-Go-Round”, beginning in 1932 for skewering the politicians of the day, most notably as one of the earliest and strongest voices denouncing Joe McCarthy. One of his staffers was Jack Anderson, a central figure in Watergate reportage. Douglas Cohn and Eleanor Clift continue the column today.
‘Nancy Drew’ is a fictional American character in a mystery fiction series created by publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series. The books were ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. The character first appeared in 1930. The books continued under various publishers until 2003; the final count listed no fewer than 175 titles.
Toronto Pearson International Airport ranks at #20 worldwide in terms of international arrivals, with 29 million passenger arrivals a year, just behind #19, John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City, which has 32 million. These are the only 2 airports in the Americas in the top 20; all of the others are in Asia and Europe. The airports with the most international arrivals are Dubai International, at #1 with 88 million a year, and London Heathrow, with 73 million.
President John F. Kennedy was friends with his former U.S. Senate colleague Barry Goldwater, despite their very different political views. Kennedy anticipated that Goldwater would be the GOP nominee in 1964, when JFK would be running for reelection. The President once suggested that he and Goldwater travel the country during the campaign and have debates in different cities, as Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas did during their famous 1858 Senate campaign. After Kennedy was assassinated, President Lyndon Johnson did not follow up on the idea, and beat Goldwater handily.
As his name suggests, Goldwater was of Jewish ancestry, but he himself was Episcopalian, leading to the comment from one Jewish comedian: “I always knew the first Jewish candidate for the White House would be an Episcopalian.”
Aside:
That picture neatly sums up the difference between Canada’s parliamentary system and the US presidential system.
In Canada, the political heavyweights in the party, other than the PM himself, are in the Cabinet, because they have political clout in their own right.
In the US, the political heavyweights are outside the Cabinet, in Congress or the governors’ mansions. Cabinet secretaries are generally only in Cabinet because the President chose them, and lack much political clout on their own (subject to the occasional exception like Hillary Clinton).
TheBeta Israel, aka Ethiopian Jews or Falasha, are people of Jewish ancestry whose community developed and lived for centuries in the area of the Kingdom of Aksum and the Ethiopian Empire that is currently divided between the Amhara and Tigray Regions of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Most of these peoples have emigrated to Israel since the late 20th century, following civil war in Ethiopia.
Christianity in Ethiopia dates to the ancient Kingdom of Aksum, when the King Ezana adopted the faith around the year 330. The largest pre-colonial Christian church of Africa, the Ethiopian Church has a membership of between 40 and 46 million, and Protestant, Evangelical and Catholic churches are also present. In total, Christians make up about 60% of the total population of the country.
With the emergence of Islam in the 7th century, Ethiopia’s Christians became isolated from the rest of the Christian world. Ethiopia was the only region of Africa to survive the expansion of Islam as a Christian state.
And, as Harold Wilson once said, every PM must worry which of his Cabinet members will first make a move to supplant him. US Presidents don’t usually have that concern.
Herbert Hoover remarked, on the other hand, that every Cabinet should have at least one potential President in it.
In play:
The Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of Great Britain and Ireland, visited the US not long before the Civil War, toured the country and met with President James Buchanan. There were large protests by Irish-Americans against his visit.
His 1906 visit to the nearly-completed Panama Canal made Teddy Roosevelt the first US President to leave the country while in office.
Teddy Roosevelt’s cabinet included the man who would succeed him as president, William Howard Taft. Taft was the Secretary of War under TR. Taft, the 27th president of the US, would later also serve as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and is the only person to hold both of those offices.
Roosevelt’s cabinet also included Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield, who was the son of former President James A. Garfield.
The Taft family of the United States has historic origins in Massachusetts; its members have served Ohio, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Utah, and the United States in various positions such as Governor of Ohio, Governor of Rhode Island, U.S. Senator (two), U.S. Representative (two), Attorney General, Secretary of War (two), United States Secretary of Agriculture, President of the United States, and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
The family also owned Cincinnati-based Taft Broadcasting, was the owner of such major media and entertainment properties as Hanna-Barbera Productions, Worldvision Enterprises, Ruby-Spears Productions, KECO Entertainment and many television and radio stations. It also owned 50% of CIC Video’s Australian operations, CIC-Taft Home Video. What remains is now part of iHeart Media.
William I, King of Scotland, (c1142-1214) was the 22nd Great-grandfather of President William Howard Taft.
Eilean Donan Castle, in Scotland’s western Highland Region, is quite scenic (images). It is perched on a small tidal island where three lochs meet, Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh. In 2001, the island recorded a population of one (1). In 2011 there were zero (0). The island is named after Saint Donnán of Eigg, the patron saint of Eigg.
The New York Yankees baseball team was previously named the New York Highlanders, a name inspired by their then-home facility, Hilltop Park in upper Manhattan. The site is now occupied by Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.
As one of the most successful sports clubs in the world, the Yankees have won 18 division titles, 40 AL pennants, and 27 World Series championships, all of which are Major League Baseball records The Yankees have won more titles than any other franchise in the four major North American sports leagues.
And yet, right now they are 4 1/2 games behind the first place Boston Red Sox.
Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, opened in 1912, and the Red Sox have played there since its opening. Fenway has also been the home stadium of several professional football teams, including the Boston Bulldogs, the Boston Shamrocks, the Boston Redskins, the Boston Yanks, and the Boston Patriots. The Patriots, who played at Fenway from 1963-1968, eventually built a new stadium in nearby Foxborough in 1971 and at the same time officially changed their name to the New England Patriots.
Nitpick: It’s just “Chief Justice of the United States.”
The Boston Red Sox, under racist drunkard owner Tom Yawkey, were the last major league baseball team to integrate, adding infielder Elijah “Pumpsie” Green only in 1959. In fact, the Boston Bruins hockey team integrated before the Red Sox, when Willie O’Ree joined them in 1958.
The detective series Spenser: For Hire, starring Robert Urich and Avery Brooks and based on the works of Robert B. Parker, was cancelled after three seasons, in part because of the expense of location shoots in the Boston area.