ISSUE #94 - November 15th, 2019

ONE

BOOKS - Imagine if right now Barack Obama was being sued for millions of dollars in a personal lawsuit. Now imagine further that he decided to represent himself and spent over a week on the witness stand. Can you fathom the media/political circus this would create? It would be the trial of the century.  Well, this actually happened to Teddy Roosevelt in 1915. Nearly six years after leaving office, a former political rival, William Barnes, sued Roosevelt for libel after TR claimed Barnes was corrupt. The lawsuit was for $50,000 ($1.2 million today) and if Barnes won, it would have demolished Roosevelt's reputation and ruined him financially. The book, Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense, by Dan Abrams and David Fisher chronicles the trial and if you're at all a fan of Roosevelt, it's awesome. Also, TR reveals a lot of political tricks and shady dealings that are absolutely still pertinent today.

TWO

MOVIES - I'm trying to start a habit of watching one classic/critically-acclaimed old movie that I've never seen every Wednesday night. I realize this is an odd thing to do with the 'streaming wars' in full effect and Disney+ launching with The Mandalorian and Apple+ launching with a Pu Pu platter of shows (none of which seem appealing to me) and basically, more new original content than ever before...  But I don't care. This week I watched 3 Days of the Condor, a movie I'd always heard was great and that still has an 86% score on Rotten Tomatoes. I went in to the movie completely blind, so here's a very minor reveal in case you've never see it: Condor is Robert Redford's codename. They mention this very early in the movie and it's even on the original posters, so it's no big deal. However, I'd always wondered what the title meant, so there you go. At times the movie has that slow, vintage 70s pacing, but for the most part, it's a great premise, a solid performance by Redford and it could easily be made today. One of the best parts is watching the "cutting edge" tech from the 70s Condor uses. One lesson I learned: It's amazing how easy being on the run is when there aren't cameras everywhere. How did anyone ever get caught? Why wasn't everyone robbing banks in the 70s? People had no way of finding you if you went off the grid.

THREE

DOGS - I love my dog. You love your dog. You know what would be a cool, funny gift for yourself or someone in your family? How about socks with your dog's face on them?  I don't exactly know how I got targeted for these while I was scrolling Instagram, but I'm glad I did, because in about a week I'm going to have a pair of sox with Mr. P's face on them. I used one of my favorite photos (this one) and I think these will be cool to have. I have no affiliation whatsoever with this company, but you get 50% off your first pair and they seem like the perfect clever small gift or stocking stuffer for your kids or whoever. Check them out.

FOUR

LIBRARIES - While coffee shops get all of the street cred when it comes to "places people write" I have to admit that I'm a fan of libraries as well. Yeah, I know, most people can't remember the last time they were even in a library, but I like'em. I've written portions of books at them, done talks at them and even done book signings at them.  This week I visited the George W. Bush Presidential Library to explore doing some kind of event there with my new book, Jocks in Chief, since W ranks fairly high on the president athlete list. I grabbed this photo on the way in and while I know politics are always polarizing, there's something unifying about libraries and museums like this. They are great snapshots of what our nation was like during a president's time in office and if you lived through it, particularly an event like 9/11, they really bring you back to what you were thinking/feeling/doing at that time.

FIVE

A QUOTE ABOUT LIBRARIES THAT GOT ME THINKING...  "The health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries." —Carl Sagan

Thank you for reading!!! And if you haven't yet... Please go buy Jocks in Chief right now... The trailer is below. It's 60 seconds. Watch it. You'll laugh! You'll cry!* You'll be moved to know who the best president athlete was!  *You won't cry. I promise.

WATCH THE JOCKS IN CHIEF BOOK TRAILER

THE OFFICIAL JOCKS IN CHIEF BOOK TRAILER