New Leader in Panama

Panama is between Costa Rica (W), Columbia (E),Caribbean Sea (N) and Pacific Ocean (S)

Laurentinino Cortizo is the new president of Panama in a close election

New Leader in Guinea-Bissau – President Cipriano Cassamá

Guinea-Bissau is a small country in Western Africa that borders Senegal and Guinea. It has a lot of salt-water hippos. Guinea-Bissau is a small country in Western Africa that borders Senegal and Guinea. Cipriano Cassamá (born 1959) is the new president on June 23rd 2019 until the elections in November. He takes over for the old president who is the first president since Independence (1973 from Portugal Empire) to complete a 5 year term.

New Leader of Denmark: Mette Frederikson became Prime Minister on June 27th

Mette Frederikson is the youngest Prime Minister of Denmark. Here is a NY Time article about her. She is conservative on immigration, but more liberal on everything else. She is the leader of the Socialist Democratic Party. She wants to make prostitution illegal in order to make the customers criminals.

Tony Perkins is appointed to US Commission on International Religious Freedom

On June 17, 2019 Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, was elected the Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom

Right Wing Watch is concerned about this appointment, but I believe Perkins will be able to keep a sense of fairness for all religions. The Family Research Council used to be part of James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, but they broke off in the early 1990s, so they could be more political. I used to listen to Focus on the Family quite a bit (back in the 1990s), so this appointment is quite interesting to me. I hope Perkins uses the position in a wise way, and not to be anti-Muslim and anti- LGBTQ.

Newest Leader: Zuzana Čaputová, President of Slovakia as of June 15, 2019

“I’m a religious believer and a spiritual person, but I don’t think Christian values are contradictory to liberal stances,”  Zuzana Caputova

Slovakia is one of two countries that used to make up the Czechoslovakia Socialist Republic. They became two independent countries in something called the Velvet Divorce in 1993.  The other country is the Czech Republic.

Caputova has been elected as the fifth president of Slovakia.  She won the election by 58%.  She is the first woman president of Slovakia. She is strong on environmental issues, anti-corruption, and equality.  She is bucking the trend in Europe of populist leaders. She is not a Populist. Two newspaper reporters who were reporting on the corruption of the most popular political party in Slovakia were killed a few months ago, and she protested this.

The previous president decided not to run for a second 5 year term even though he was popular.

Newest World Leader!

I am going to start a series of posts introducing the world to the newest world leader. I will explore who they are, their country, and the world events leading up to the demise of the old leader and the resurgence of the new leader! I am hoping this will inform and instruct you in your thoughts and prayers for our world leaders!

I thought about doing this in a new blog – not my old blog from years ago – but why not do it here! We are still going TO THE MOON!

 

 

How to remember the 45 Presidents of the United States

1. George Washington – First in War, First in Peace and First in the hearts of his countrymen. And first chronologically.

2. John Adams – Adams has 2 syllables in it.

 

3. Thomas Jefferson – Jefferson has 3 syllables in it – and on his tombstone, he wanted to be remembered for three things – “(1)Author of the Declaration of Independence [and] (2)of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom & (3) Father of the University of Virginia.”

4. James Madison – “Father of the Constitution” has four words in it, and Madison is before Monroe in alphabetical order. Madison, our shortest president, was 4 inches over 5 feet. He also had a wife named Dolly.

5. James Monroe- Monroe comes after Madison in alphabetical order. 4 of the first 5 presidents come from Virginia and are part of the “Virginia Dynasty”.

6. John Quincy Adams – “Before Bush and Gore, there was the election of 1824″ , since no candidate got 50% or more of the electoral vote, congress chose John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, even though Andrew Jackson had more votes. This is because Jackson was a Washington Outsider who did not read books (except the Bible) and was very non-intellectual. Jackson was a populist.

7. Andrew Jackson – Wins by a landslide twice. Seven is a lucky number and Jackson had a bullet lodged in his chest and his shoulder because of duels he was in. He never had the bullet in his chest removed because he would have bled to death.

8. Martin Van Buren – Jackson’s campaign manager. His body is revered by the skull and crossbones elite private club at Yale University. They have an 8 finger handshake that was made famous in an episode of Seinfeld.

9. William Harrison – Cats have 9 lives but Harrison only had 2 months as president. He forgot to wear his coat during his outdoor winter inauguration speech, and caught his death.

10. John Tyler – Our most biologically successful president. He had 15 children. Two of his grandchildren are still alive in 2018.

11. James Polk – Polk fulfilled our manifest destiny by extending the United States from 1 Atlantic Ocean to 1 Pacific Ocean (1 to 1, 11). His nickname is “Young Hickory” in contrast to Andrew Jackson whose nickname was “Old Hickory”. He died months after his one term presidency (over-work), so he is forever young.

12. Zackary Taylor – Died of eating snacks at the celebration of the finishing of the Washington Monument. I remember him because his VP was Millard Fillmore, our unlucky 13th president. You can still buy Taylor snacks at Target.

13. Millard Fillmore. One of my favorite presidents because he is so forgettable. 13,14, and 15 are all considered some of our worse presidents of all time. He is unlucky #13.

14. Franklin Pierce – He pierced his liver with alcohol and this is what killed him. He drank the most in the White House. He was also friends with Nathaniel Hawthorne, who wrote the Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables,  who wrote a political biography of him,

15. James Buchanan –  He is considered one of worse presidents because he brought our nation to the brink of Civil War.

16. Abraham Lincoln – President during the Civil War – a war that was like a chess game. There are 16 pawns in the game of Chess.

17. Andrew Johnson – Lincoln’s VP when Lincoln was assassinated. He was the opposite of Lincoln however. Lincoln was arguably our best president, and Johnson our worst. Johnson is very racist. He also shares the same first name as #7.

18. US Grant – 18 is when you are a man, and Grant was manly. He struggled with alcoholism (binge drinking) all his life, but it was smoking cigars that killed him. Even though he was an alcoholic, he managed to win the Civil War as the North’s great General, and bring the nation back together again, as a great President.

 

 

19. Rutherford Hayes. After a manly president – we had a president with a feminine first name – Ruth.

20. James Garfield. He was shot by a mad man but lingered more than 20 days before he died. Our only president with the name of a famous cat.

21. Chester A Arthur. If our presidents were kings, our 21st president would be King Arthur.

22. Grover Cleveland – Our 22nd president was president for two terms at 2 different times.

23. Benjamin Harrison – Grandson of William Harrison and sandwiched by the 2 Cleveland terms.

24. Grover Cleveland – 2 four year terms.

25. William McKinley – A mountainous president who got us into the 20th century. There are 25 presidents before 1900.

26. Theodore Roosevelt – Roosevelt was born on 20th street in NY City and had six children. He was born and raised in NY City just like #45. The Teddy Bear is named after him because he refused to shoot a bear in a cage.

27. William Taft – Our biggest president who weighed over 270 pounds. He got stuck in the White House bathtub, so he got it replaced with a huge one.

28. Woodrow Wilson – Wilson was born on December 28th, 1856. He gets less presents because his birthday is so close to Christmas. He was president during WWI.

29. Warren Harding – It was “Hard” for him to be chosen by his party. He started winning on the 9th ballot in a smoke filled room in the 20s.

30. Calvin Coolidge – Coolidge’s laissez faire policies may have led to the economic conditions that prevailed in the 30s.

31. Herbert Hoover – Baskin Robbins has 31 favors but no Hoover Vacuum Cleaner favor. That would be yucky.

32. Franklin Roosevelt – No month has 32 days – but Roosevelt was elected to 4 terms in office – spanning the Great Depression and WWII. President for the longest time.

33. Harry Truman – 3 is a lucky number, 33 must be luckier! Three providential things happened during his presidency – Israel became a nation, World War II came to an end, and the US Military became integrated.

34. Dwight D Eisenhower  – Ike had 3 names (Dwight,David,Eisenhower) and his last name has four syllables.

35. John F. Kennedy – There have been 10 presidents during my lifetime. Like 25, Kennedy was a mountainous president who got assassinated.

36. Lyndon B Johnson –  took over in 63 (November 22, 1963). Invert 63 to get 36.

37. Richard Nixon – Resigned before congress could impeach him (17 and 42 were impeached but not convicted, Nixon would have been convicted).

38. Gerald Ford –  two assassination attempts on the same trip to California. Both were attempted by women who were bad shots who were using a 38 Smith and Wesson, and a 45 Colt Automatic. They were pissed because Ford pardoned Nixon.

39. Jimmy Carter – Always 39 – he has the longest and most distinguished post-presidency of all our presidents. He was a very good man, but not that great a president.

40. Ronald Reagan –  a movie star in the 1940s.

41.George HW Bush – His son 43 (also George) wrote an article about his father named 41

42. Bill Clinton – 42 is the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and Bill Clinton was also one of the main influences and role models for Zaphod Beetlebrocks when he became President of the Universe.

43 George W Bush – 21 also had an initial for a middle name (Chester A Arthur) 43-21.

44. Barack Obama –  He was elected in 2000+4+4. 4 is the smallest composite number and Obama is our first racially composite president – uniting all races together as Americans.

45  Donald Trump – 45s are small vinyl record and Trump has small hands.

 

 

“Adams (#2) and Jefferson (#3) are no more.” – Daniel Webster, July 1826

John Adams

Born: October 30, 1735 Death: July 4, 1826

Life Duration:  90 years, 8 months, 4 days or 33,108 days

Died:  at home in Quincy MA

Cause: Congestive heart failure

Last Words: “Thomas Jefferson still survives” (which wasn’t true, Jefferson had died 5 hours earlier).

Thomas Jefferson

Born: April 17, 1743 Death: July 4, 1826

Life Duration: 83 years 2 months 17 days or 30,832 days

Died: Charlottesville, Virginia at home in Monticello (931 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy, Charlottesville, VA 22902)

Cause: Fever, also rheumatoid arthritis, urinary tract infection, and intestinal issues.

Epitaph on Grave: HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON, AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA.

Last Words: “Is it the Fourth?”

Potus #2, John Adams, and Potus #3, Thomas Jefferson, died on the same day – July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the United States.  This was not a coincidence. Both men wanted to live only until this date. Daniel Webster, no relation to Noah Webster who wrote the Webster dictionary but a great man and public servant in his own right,   gave the eulogy for both Jefferson and Adams, saying that Adams and Jefferson are no more.

Quotes from the eulogy for Jefferson and Adams:

“No age will come in which it shall cease to be seen and felt, on either continent, that a mighty step, a great advance, not only in American affairs, but in human affairs, was made on the 4th of July, 1776.”

“We can never, indeed, pay the debt which is upon us; but by virtue, by morality, by religion, by the cultivation of every good principle and every good habit, we may hope to enjoy the blessing, through our day, and to leave it unimpaired to our children.” (the blessing of liberty that was won by the Declaration of Independence because of the work of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson).

A new era started on July 4, 1776:

“This era is distinguished by free representative governments, by entire religious liberty, by improved systems of national intercourse, by a newly awakened and unconquerable spirit of free inquiry, and by a diffusion of knowledge through the community, such as has been before altogether unknown and unheard of America, America, our country, fellow-citizens, our own dear and native land, is inseparably connected, fast bound up, in fortune and by fate, with these great interests.”

and that is why these 2 men died exactly 50 years later!

 

 

 

 

 

 

POTUS #1 – George Washington – “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Heart of his Countrymen”.

Born: February 22, 1732 Died: December 14, 1799

Cause of death: Inflammation of the throat caused by a cold. He had been riding his horse in freezing rain, and he did not remove his cold clothes, but ate dinner in them. This gave him a cold and a sore throat. His doctors also bled him quite a bit, thinking that might help, but it probably made it worse.

Age at death: 67 years. 10 months. 3 days. 24,767 days total.

Location of death: Mount Vernon, VA, at home.

Time of Death: 10 PM Saturday

Last Words: “Tis Well”

Funeral held: December 18, 1799 at home

POTUS stands for President of the United States, and the first president of the United States is George Washington. I am collecting all of the presidential dollars in proof condition, and thought it would be interesting to look up their eulogies.

George Washington died on December 14 of 1799 and Henry Lee gave the funeral oration. Henry Lee was also called Light Horse Harry. He was a major general in the Continental army, a plantation owner, and the father of Robert E Lee and 9 other children (including a speech writer for Andrew Jackson, and Algernon, who died when he was one). This is what he had to say about George Washington, our first president. Henry Lee famously said  “George Washington, first in War, first in Peace, and first in the heart of his countrymen.“

 

 

 

 

How to remember the names of the Supreme Court Justices

Here is a mnemonic for remembering the Supreme Court Justices:

First I picture a seesaw with the 4 justices appointed by Republican Presidents on the right, and 4 justices (3 gals, 1 guy) appointed by Democrats on the left. Nobody’s feet is on the ground, and if anyone gets off or gets on they all topple.

Robert Kennedy Takes Altoids

• John G. Roberts    (Robert’s brother is John F Kennedy, Gee!)
• Anthony Kennedy  ( A for being the most senior member of the Supreme Court). 
• Clarence Thomas (Clarence Thomas is an HW Bush appointee, Anita Hill was opposed to his nomination)
• Samuel A Alito Jr. (Sam I Am Altoids)

And now the ones on the left:

Singing Gals Bring Krispy Kremes

• Sonia Sotomayor   (so-so mayor)
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) GONE
• Stephen Breyer    (not Adam and Steve but Adam and Eve, He breys about how the second amendment is not about the right of a private citizen to have a gun by his bed, but the right of states to be able to arm a state militia).
• Elena Kagan    (an Obama appointee who was the first female Solicitor General – the one who argues the government’s case in front of the Supreme Court)

Extra Credit: name who was in the vacant seat but died in February 2016.

• Antonin Scalia (died of old age on 2/13/2016)

UPDATE APRIL 13, 2017

Neil Gorsuch became the 113th Supreme Court Justice so now we have

• Conservatives: Gorsuch, Alito, Thomas, Roberts, Kennedy
• Liberals: Sotomayor, Breyer, Ginsburg, Kagan

UPDATE OCTOBER 6, 2018

Brett Kavanaugh (appointed by Trump) replaces Anthony Kennedy (appointed by Ford)  so now we have

• Conservatives: Roberts, Gorsuch, Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh
• Liberals: Sotomayor, Breyer, RBG, Kagan

UPDATE SEPTEMBER, 21, 2021

Amy Coney Barrett (appointed by Trump) replaces RBG so now we have:

• Conservatives: Roberts, Gorsuch, Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Barrett
• Liberals: Sotomayor, Breyer, Kagan

This was done in September 2020.

Three by traditional Republicans:
RAT. Roberts, Alito, Thomas

Three by Trump:
Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett

Three by Liberal Democrats:

Sotomayor, Breyer, Kagan