Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Sept 14, 1895: Advice to Workingmen by someone named Wendell Phillips. (Lyon County Times, Silver City, NV)




Earl Brothers opened the 550 seat Boulder Theatre in 1932 in Boulder City, NV to provide entertainment to Boulder Dam workers. UNLV Digital Collections has a photo of the theatre from Sept 15, 1932, apparently showing a movie called American Madness (1932) about a socially-conscious banker Thomas Dickson who faces a crisis when his protégé is wrongly accused of robbing the bank, gossip of the robbery starts a bank run, and evidence suggests Dickson's wife had an affair...all on the same day.


The film was originally entitled "Bank Story" and was intended to quell American discontent over the alleged misbehavior of banks during the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Both bankers and censors claimed the film did more to improve the image of banks than a thousand newspaper articles.

Duncan Knowles, a former Bank of America historian states, "Frank Capra definitely told us, and the entire National Italian American Association, that when he made the move American Madness, he based the banker character on A. P. Giannini, that is fact." Giannini was the founder of the Bank of America.

Italian American Museum of Los Angeles


Sept 15, 1944: USS Shangri-La (CV-38) was commissioned. One of the few U.S. Navy ships honoring a fictional(?) location, the name was chosen after FDR slyly told reporters that the Doolittle Raid had been launched from "Shangri-La"—the secret paradise in the novel LOST HORIZON by James Hilton.



If interested, Walter Bosley has an intriguing series on the novel Lost Horizon.


Sept 15, 1961: season 3 of The Twilight Zone began on CBS with "Two." Written & directed by Montgomery Pittman, it tells the story of two wary soldiers (Charles Bronson & Elizabeth Montgomery) from opposing sides, approach each other suspiciously, the sole survivors of a global thermonuclear war 5 years earlier who meet in a rubble-strewn city.



A radio adaptation of this episode starred Don Johnson in the Charles Bronson role.


Nixon military aide Brig. Gen. James D. Hughes [1922-2024] "loses his hat," but hangs on to the nuclear football. Associated Press, Jan 23, 1971.



In 1957, Hughes was selected as Military Aide to Vice President Richard Nixon. He was with the Vice President during the Caracas crisis in 1958 and on scene at the American Exhibition in Moscow when he faced off with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in what became famously known as the “Kitchen Debate.”

From 1969 to 1972, General Hughes served as Military Assistant to President Nixon, overseeing 2,000 people directly, and in charge of Air Force One, special missions, helicopters, ceremonies, protocol, the White House Communications Agency and Camp David.

He flew 101 combat missions during the Korean War. He died January 12, 2024 at age 101.

Lt General Hughes was awarded pilot wings from the Republic of Korea Air Force, Taiwan Air Force, Republic of the Philippines Air Force and the Royal Thai Air Force.

From Colonel to 3-star general, he went up the ranks rather quickly.

General Hughes was a loyal friend to the Nixon family throughout his long life and active with the Richard Nixon Foundation. In 2011, Hughes delivered the keynote address at the commemoration of Richard Nixon’s 98th birthday.

“When I finished my combat tour, I had flown 101 combat missions, but there’s one I’ll never forget,” Hughes said. “We had a large communist convoy that was bottled up, and the first and last vehicles were burning so we worked on the middle.”

Hughes engaged the convoy multiple times to gain mission success.

“I picked a tank, went in and missed with the first rockets I fired,” Hughes recounted. “I went around and came back down the same flightpath after the same target.”

Hughes explained how his basic mistake as a young pilot caused him to take a hit from enemies on the ground.

“I was nailed by a 37-millimeter and the forward part; it shot out the windscreen and gave me a face full of glass,” Hughes said. “Noisy ride home – got the airplane back and flew the next day.”

Hughes was awarded the Purple Heart for the wounds he received in combat that day.

“Youthful exuberance and inexperience led me to qualify for the Medal,” Hughes said. “Wearing the medal was a constant reminder of how lucky I was.”

After retirement, with a deep understanding of the importance and meaning of the Purple Heart to veterans and their families, Hughes and three colleagues formed the Genesis Group to champion the cause for the recognition of Purple Heart recipients. In 2006, their efforts were realized when the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor was established in New Windsor, New York.

According to Hughes, one of the most meaningful military awards he received was the Order of the Sword, which is the highest award given by NCOs.

“Thirty-nine years of military service is a long time, but it went by awfully fast,” Hughes said. “Where else can anyone serve the country, in so honorable a profession, and in the company of some of the most able and dedicated men and women our country has to offer? So yes! I’d do it all again — in a minute!”

Korean War Veteran, former PACAF commander, shares his experiences to empower Airmen

Order of the Sword comes from 1522 in Sweden and was supposedly passed to the United States during the Revolutionary War and supposedly it lay dormant (no evidence of any of that) until it was reinstituted in its current form in 1967 to the US Air Force. The honor is awarded by non-commission officers to high level command overachievers Officers and many are associated with aerospace.

One of these Swordsmen was Caspar Willard "Cap" Weinberger [GBE], who became the Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan.

S.W.O.R.D. = Secret World Organization for Retribution & Destruction.

SWORD = Space Warfighting Operations Research and Development; at Kirtland Air Force Base, that base which is shrouded in UFO conspiracies.

Eat your heart out Ninurta!


These are the Air Force swords that look like they belong in a video game


Document found at the Nixon Library. An October 10, 1971 memo from Nixon's military aide Col. James D. Hughes to White House Assistant Dwight Chapin recommending that the COG briefing be conducted in the White House Bomb Shelter. The briefing was held on Nov 11, 1969 in the Cabinet Room.




There's no place like home. The bomb shelter was still there as of a 1996 retrospective article in which Marguerite Stufflebeam [1917-1997] revealed the space was eventually used for storage. No bugs, but "Lizards seemed to like it," she said.




This photo is reminiscent of me when I was 10-11 years old. I was obsessed with digging out my own bomb shelter.


Growing up just a few miles from an arsenal of nuclear bombs with daily flybys of B-52s probably had something to do with it plus my dad had everything from gas masks, geiger counters, and iodine. So, one summer in my backyard beyond some trees & bushes where mom couldn't see me I started digging. Spent several days and got down to 8-9 feet when mom started wondering how I get so dirty and had to wash my clothes separately. Well, one day she made an unexpected discovery and totally freaked out. When dad got home from work he heard an earful for a good 20 minutes. Afterward dad ordered me to fill in the hole.

Depressed and angry, gave mom the silent treatment for a week and then I got a light bulb moment. Grandpa can help me! My grandparents lived just down below us and they owned all the land around us, 30-40 acres worth. Grandpa was a heavy equipment operator and had everything from dump trucks, bull dozers and back hoes. I convinced him to help me and later that summer we built a small bomb shelter out of concrete, rebar, cinder blocks, and timber. The ceiling height was about 6 feet, space was about 8' x 10' and 1 foot thick ceiling of concrete & rebar and about 14 feet of earth above. It was awesome and even mom was impressed. Dad said nice work, but it is not going to save you if SHTF. I disagreed at the time.

Later remarking to mom, why is it that every other boy around here has tree forts and ABOVE ground hideaways except for my son who has a weird fetish for bomb shelters which I thought died out back in the 60s?? The following summer my dad decided he would help furnish the underground boy cave with bunk beds, some shelves & table. Actually, a lot of shelves. Afterall, at the time he was a carpenter so why not. Unbeknownst to me at the time he had other plans for the underground facility. It would become a food storage cellar for all the family canning of garden produce + homemade jams & wine. Least I won't go hungry. Those were the days!

Don't wait for someone else to shovel you out of the shit. Act today!