Sunday Mailbag

Again, we are trying to keep the mailbag a little more manageable these days.

Politics: This Week in TrumpWorld

D.E. in Lancaster, PA, writes: I could only watch a few minutes of "Attorney General" Pam Bondi's testimony to Congress before wanting to scream. Seeing her performance reminded me of a great line from a classic film by George Kukor, The Women. The line is spoken by the scheming Crystal Allen, played spectacularly by Joan Crawford. I have made one small paraphrase, changing the noun from plural to singular, to better fit the scenario with Bondi. "There's a name for you lady, but it isn't used in high society... outside of a kennel."

One does have to wonder if Bondi will look quite as smug when they haul her off to prison?

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R.H. in San Antonio, TX, writes: Pam Bondi thought she got away with dropping the Florida AG lawsuit in exchange for $25,000 from Trump, but that only set the hook.

Now she can't break away from him, because she knows she'll be prosecuted as soon as a Democrat is president. She has to stay in Trump's good graces or he will not pardon her.

When a payola scandal was breaking around basketball coach Rick Pitino, he said (and I believe him) that he'd "never given a nickel to one of these guys, because the minute you do, he owns you."

Pam Bondi is learning that lesson, good and hard.

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O.E. in Greenville, SC, writes: You wrote that Republicans could view Bill Gates as a potential "left-wing" target. If so, it shows how far right we have shifted.

In the late 90's, Microsoft was facing antitrust action by the Bill Clinton administration over the widespread use of Windows. As a result, they shifted their financial support significantly to Republicans and Republican-backed think tanks. It was around that time that the Gates Foundation began funding global health. Part of the impetus was to distribute medicines that had not yet reached generic status, so that nations could receive patented drugs for less... and overlook prices on patented software.

More recently, the Gates Foundation donated a significant sum to the Discovery Institute, ostensibly to research activities regarding transit in the Pacific Northwest, though a significant chunk was earmarked to pay for the director's salary. (It's unclear if any of the money helped fund Christopher Rufo when he worked for the Discovery Institute.)

However, despite this, the right-wing has turned on Bill Gates for his support for vaccination and public health. It's happened before, from Bob Inglis (for opposing the Iraq escalation) to John Bolton (for being more pro-war than Donald Trump). It's happening now to Carrie Prejean Boller over Zionism. It's even happening to the late Michael Crichton. (Republicans in Congress praised him for his denial of anthropogenic global warming, but these days, Republicans are banning his novel, A Case of Need for its support of keeping abortion legal.)

Republicans of late are opposed to diversity, but it's not just diversity in general... they even oppose it among their own.

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A.H. in Newberg, OR, writes: You wrote: "Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) exercised his First Amendment rights by recording a video reminding military personnel of their rights to refuse illegal orders..."

Not to be nitpicky but my recollection of the UCMJ is that, that is an obligation to refuse illegal orders.

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T.B. in Leon County, FL, writes: Add the Christian Right to "Trump's Coalition Is Fracturing." Per Pew Research:

White evangelicals' views of Trump are less positive than they were in the early days of his second term. The changes in their views mirror those seen among the U.S. public as a whole.

For instance, there has been an 8-percentage point drop since early 2025 in the share of White evangelicals who support all or most of Trump's plans and policies. And there has been a 15-point drop in the share who are confident Trump acts ethically in office.

While white evangelicals remain The Convicted Felon's (TCF's) strongest support group, some are seeing the Light.

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J.H. in Lodi, NY, writes: In regards to "Trump Administration Working Hard to Rewrite History," Washington Irving's greatest fictional creation was not Rip Van Winkle nor Ichabod Crane, but Christopher Columbus. He wrote the first English language biography of Columbus. It was published in 1828, and well into the twentieth century, it was still considered the authoritative source on Columbus, at least by the general public. Instead of writing a historical biography, however, he composed a myth-making hagiography. He could have done better, since while living in Spain, Irving had been invited to Madrid to translate Spanish-language source material on Columbus. Nonetheless, in order to idealize him into the Great American Hero and pump up nationalistic patriotism, he both made up a lot of stuff and omitted anything negative, such as the cruelties that you mentioned. Irving's greatest Columbian fiction may be that the Admiral had to convince the people of Europe that the world was not flat. I didn't hear about the controversy regarding the size of the circumference of the globe until I was out of high school.

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K.C. in El Cajon, CA, writes: You wrote: "One of these days, we will write an item on [J.D.] Vance's principles—if he ever decides to adopt any." That reminded me of Groucho Marx's statement: "I am a man of firm principles. If you don't like them, I have others."

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G.K. in Blue Island, IL, writes: Y'know, I think an ambitious college student, possibly a post-grad in Psychometrics or Cognitive Science, might find fertile ground for a thesis examining whether Donald Trump's social postings betray any signs of "sundowning," including a more granular definition (or possible expansion) of that term as it's currently understood. Is there a qualitative difference in his posts before vs. after the sun sets? If so, what are those differences? Is it truly related to light exposure (this would require examination of weather charts and sunrise/sunset times cross-referenced against his activity calendar and known geographical locations)? Or are there other pathologies that might come to the fore, or that would need to be controlled for?

This sort of analysis, as I understand it, is usually done by examining diaries kept by a subject or their caregivers, but TCF is basically broadcasting his data publicly. I'd love to see someone take up this challenge, and to aid future historians with a data point for their narrative of the Trump Years.

Politics: Minnesota

M.M. in San Diego, CA, writes: So, did someone in Minnesota give Tom Homan a Burger King bag with $50,000 in it to go away and take ICE with him?

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S.B. in Los Angeles, CA, writes: On November 10, 1940, Winston Churchill gave a speech following the British victory at El-Alamein, in Egypt. The Germans had been advancing towards the Suez Canal and were threatening British control of the Canal and the entire Middle East region. The war had only begun in September the year before and the Germans seemed unbeatable. There were still immense challenges remaining and dark times ahead but, at that point, Mr. Churchill made one of his many cogent observations, "Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

This phrase came to mind over this past week or two in our nation. There have been small but notable victories for democracy in our nation. Special elections have gone to those candidates supporting democracy. The broad nationwide revulsion of the people to the ICE activity in Minnesota, the return of the boy Liam Conejo Ramos to his family, the refusal of the grand jury in Washington, DC, to indict the six Democratic lawmakers who made the video about not following illegal orders, the judge's rebuff to Pete Hegseth's attempt to punish Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), the House vote to curb Donald Trump's tariffs against Canada and the negative reaction to AG Bondi's screed to the House Judiciary Committee are moderate but notable victories for democracy. Of course, we have only gotten through Trump's first of four years, there are still immense challenges remaining and dark times ahead, but it would, hopefully, seem that, "this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

We have to keep the faith and keep fighting!

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S.C. in Eagan, MN, writes: Did Minneapolis just save the Republic?

Politics: Tariffs

T.I. in Oceanside, CA, writes: You wrote: "Meanwhile, the frontline folks, who are hit hardest by tariffs, are hopping mad."

If more companies showed the tariff cost to the buyer, more people would be mad. The attached comes from Montgomery Ward's, showing "Tariff Surcharge" for the items bought:

This was not indicated online when making the purchase.

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J.T. in Philadelphia, PA, writes: I enjoyed reading those lyrics to "All On Account Of the Tariff," so I wondered what the tune was like. There is a YouTube video:

And the sheet music pdf can be found here.

It's a catchy tune.

Politics: The Trump-Epstein Files

A.T. in Elkton, MD, writes: Be it resolved (yes, I'm breaking out the Robert's Rules of Order): Per Jimmy Kimmel, I vote we all start referring to the Epstein Files as the "Trump-Epstein Files," since the President, Kimmel notes, loves things named after him.

I don't know how we vote, but... someone call the question!

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C.H. in Sudbury, MA, writes: You wrote:

If the bill passes the House, Democrats will try to filibuster it in the Senate. Some Senate Republicans want to require an actual Jimmy-Stewart-style filibuster. Democrats tend not to read the Bible in these things, but could find something else interesting to read.

There are a couple of million pages from the Epstein Files... especially portions that mention Trump.

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S.S.L. in Battle Creek, MI, writes: I've watched the entire Ghislaine Maxwell Department of Justice interview. It's been months, and I'm still shaken by how completely and how literally she objectifies others. Just replace the phrases "interior decorating" and "bought beautiful items" with "trafficked children."

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B.J.L. in Ann Arbor, MI, writes: Glancing through just some of the gaudy details of the Epstein files, I had this nauseating feeling that I've seen this movie before. In fact it was the movie Risky Business, filmed in 1982 and starring Tom Cruise. The juxtaposition is that Cruise, as protagonist Joel Goodson, is a high school senior applying to colleges and living a cloistered suburban existence. Through fate, he is conjoined with a series of older, more experienced female prostitutes and he unwittingly and then wittingly becomes a glorified "broker of human fulfillment." The only difference here is that Epstein is older (30ish) and the "goods" are both younger and more taboo. The shocking irony is that one of the producers for the film is Steve Tisch, who is, of course, well ensconced in the Epstein orbit as well.

Does anyone else see parallels? I've heard others talk about the other Cruise effort, Eyes Wide Shut. While there is a similar theme of misogyny there, I was struck by the producer link and Risky Business being a much earlier film.

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J.L. in Chapel Hill, NC, writes: You wrote: "[T]here are names of people [in the Epstein files] who, for example, were writers for [WEBSITE X], and who appear because Epstein signed up for daily e-mail updates from [WEBSITE X]..."

Hmmm. Uh-huh. It sounds like some people are hoping to get ahead of the story for when it comes out that Epstein was a daily Electoral-Vote.com reader...

(V) & (Z) respond: If we're going to have a reader who is frequently in the headlines, we'd really prefer it be Taylor Swift.

Politics: Gallup Surrenders

A.G. in Scranton, PA, writes: Dear Gallup,

I served in the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps.

I know. Go me, right?

Because of this, I know a thing or two about bravery and cowardice.

You should run a poll to see which one people think you just demonstrated.

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A.F. in Boston, MA, writes: Guess who got a Gallup survey about being a part of the Gallup Panel today?

Their Question: If you have anything else that you wish to tell us about your experience with the Gallup Panel, please use this space to do so.

My Response: I'm horrified that Gallup is going to bow to presidential pressure to stop polling approval ratings. Appeasement only begets further pressure and demands.

I doubt it will change anything and I'll probably continue to do it if only to prevent them from further skewing the sample. Still crazy that: (1) I'm a part of that large dataset and (2) Gallup has given up on such a core part of its mission and publicity.

Politics: The Super Bowl

J.R. in San Francisco, CA, writes: I'm in my mid-70's and haven't watched the Super Bowl in decades. I don't follow contemporary popular music and had never heard of Bad Bunny. The general freak-out on the Right made me curious about the demon who inspired such an outpouring of vitriol. So I tuned in and watched. I suspect there are thousands, perhaps millions, who tuned in who otherwise wouldn't have but for the kerfuffle. So maybe some of the expected ratings decline caused by the lack of Taylor Swift starpower was made up.

As I watched the extraordinary performance of Bad Bunny and his colleagues, I was struck by the palpable positivity of it all. So refreshing! Little wonder that the Party of Perpetual Grievance would find this abhorrent.

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B.N. in Salem, OR, writes: I wanted to give a shout out to MAGA for last weekend. They managed to get me, a middle-aged white guy, to actually watch a Super Bowl halftime show. That time is usually spent grabbing a fresh beer and some snacks before the third quarter. I have to say Bad Bunny looks like an all right guy. Also, from the clips I stomached from the other show, Kid Rock may have gotten me to finally stop wearing jean shorts, much to my wife's delight.

Go Chargers! Next year, baby!

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S.F. in Hutto, TX, writes: In "Bad Bunny For President?," you wrote: "Keep in mind that it is a law of the universe that any project involving Pedro Pascal must be good."

While I concede this is normally true, Wonder Woman 1984 is the exception that proves the rule.

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D.R. in Omaha, NE, writes: Sighted on the Interwebs Monday morning:

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X.B. in Oegstgeest, The Netherlands, writes: You wrote: "Kid Rock insisted yesterday that he was not lip synching..."

Technically he's right. He was not in sync.

All Politics Is Local

J.A. in Monterey, CA, writes: In your "Arizona Politics: A New Twist in the Governor's Race," might it have been better, instead of saying: "Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ)... has a penis" to say: "Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ)... has a penis (to the best of our knowledge)"?

(V) & (Z) respond: No, he definitely has a penis. It's just that it lives in Donald Trump's desk drawer.

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D.C. in Birmingham, AL, writes: I thought you might like to know that Sen. Katie Britt's (R-AL) offices in D.C. and Alabama have not been picking up the phone for the past few days. I have been calling multiple offices from my Birmingham number and no one is answering any of them. It's almost as if Britt is avoiding her constituents during the DHS negotiations. How fascinating!

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M.R. in Valley Forge, PA writes: "The Midterms, Part I: Garden State Election Too Close to Call" described the dynamics in the race as moderate (Tom Malinowski) vs. progressive (Analilia Mejia). However, it is more complicated than that. There were two other candidates in this race that substantially altered the dynamics and certainly the results of the race.

(Now Former) Lt. Governor Takesha Way ran with the endorsement of Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) and occupied the establishment lane with Trenton support.

Meanwhile, Essex County Executive Brendon Gill (D) ran with the Essex County Democratic Party machine's support. While his office may seem like the least significant of the moderates, Brendon Gill has been involved in local/state politics for decades, serving as former senator Frank Lautenberg's Newark Office Chief of Staff, among other notable positions. Further, the Essex County Democratic machine has historically "anointed" its preferred candidate as it's one of the most powerful party machines left in the country.

Tom Malinowski, for his part, had the support of national Democrats and his (one-time) peers in the House of Representatives, but none of those people vote in the district. He had the challenge of having to run in an entirely new district as he previously represented a different part of the state (NJ-7)! He was essentially a new candidate to most of the voters.

So yes, it was moderate vs. progressive but more in the sense that the moderates split the vote three ways, enabling the progressive candidate to sneak through. Not to take anything away from Analilia Meija, who was strategically able to pick an empty lane and run.

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J.N. in Summit, NJ, writes: I live right next to NJ-11, and I have been following the recent primary. Full disclosure: I donated to Tom Malinowski as he was our prior NJ-07 congressman and I like him a lot.

It looks like Analilia Mejia activated the younger and infrequent voters that progressives commonly say that they will attract, but in practice often don't. Malinowski got a plurality of the typical primary voters. This is why he did so well in the first tranche of vote tallies, which were the vote-by-mail ballots which arrived early. There were, of course, a large number of candidates on the ballot besides Malinowski and Mejia, and those voters who chose another candidate would likely favor Malinowski if it was a two-person race.

I don't have any inside information, but I would not be surprised if this same race was repeated in June (when it will be time to choose candidates for a full term starting in 2027), but without many of the other candidates like Brendon Gill, who was the NJ machine candidate. In such a scenario, Malinowski would likely come out ahead. AIPAC has threatened to go after Malinowski again if he were to run. The rumor is that the money AIPAC used for this came from a single source, so they may not be bluffing. However the Jewish community is already up in arms over Mejia as the nominee, and is pretty upset with AIPAC. Mejia is very pro-Palestinian and there is already talk that Jewish voters will not vote for her in June (or ever), and there is a reasonably large Jewish population in the district, particularly Millburn and Livingston, but also in many other towns. It wouldn't take much to wipe out the D+5 lean. I doubt Mejia will actually lose in the April special general election, but a weak showing against Councilman Joe Hathaway (R-Randolph) would make her vulnerable in the June primary.

In summary, I think this is just the first act of the NJ-11 drama, and I don't think that the progressives will be able to keep Mejia in the seat for long, as she is unlikely to be able to unite the party, and this district is not liberal enough to support her in the long run.

(V) & (Z) respond: Thanks to both J.N. and M.R.; we always appreciate hearing from readers who have their fingers on the pulse of races that we can only follow from a distance.

The Sports Report

J.M. in Arvada, CO, writes: I had two follow ups to your Olympic questions today. First, on the Peacock lack of audio, we're watching a lot of Olympics on Peacock and their audio seems to be haphazard. One luge run will be the international feed, the next will be the NBC feed. So audio will drop out for minutes at a time. Some will have audio through when the expected medal winners finish, but then show the rest without audio. I think that's more evidence that the lack of audio for the Ukrainian slider wasn't any type of statement, just the perils of live sport.

Second, on the Parade of Nations, you also left out that by IOC tradition Greece always goes first as the original home of the Games, so no matter what name is first alphabetically, that nation will never start the Parade. Also, it's not just the next hosts that go next to last, it's all announced hosts who finish the parade. That's why the U.S. was second to last this year, as Salt Lake City will host the winter Olympics in 2034.

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J.W. in Folsom, CA, writes: For the question on Saturday about luge on Peacock... I watched the regular broadcast on NBC and for that entire slider there was a picture-in-picture commercial, hence no commentary.

No technical error, and not political.

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J.E. in San Jose, CA, writes: In response to I.S. in Cap Ferret, who asked about fighting in North American hockey, I present this altercation in the recent US-Italy Olympic matchup. Granted, not a proper fight, but quite chippy by Olympic hockey standards.

Yes, the potential for fights does sell tickets, but you know what else does? Your team's best player. The official answer that it "keeps them from doing something more dangerous when the adrenaline is pumping" does carry merit. In other words, the threat of getting your ass kicked prevents goons from injuring the stars.

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K.C. in West Islip, NY, writes: In my second hockey-related comment of the week—bizarre contributions to a political site, I know—the reason fighting is allowed in the NHL (aside from selling tickets, which you acknowledged) is that having enforcers protects the superstars. Imagine if no one had fear of annihilating Wayne Gretzky, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, etc. Someone needs to put a second thought into the heads of opponents who are wearing razor blades on their feet and have weapons in their hands at all times. And although it's gone the way of the dodo bird, a glorious bench-clearing brawl has always sent the message that nonsense won't be tolerated, especially when the goalies get into it. For me, the greatest call ever was "Here comes Chevaldae!" If there was no fighting in hockey, I can almost guarantee there would be deaths on the ice. It's integral to player safety in what would otherwise be an actual dangerous sport.

(V) & (Z) respond: (Z) saw Wayne Gretzky play at the Forum, for the Kings, several times. And he can confirm that if any player so much as breathed on The Great One, they were guaranteed to get a "visit" from Marty McSorley.

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J.E. in San Jose, CA, writes: I wouldn't mind if ice hockey were eliminated from Canada and the rest of the planet for that matter. My two-time-defending-champion Florida Panthers otherwise may not even make the playoffs this season anyway, so what's the point?

(Why Florida? They are the only NHL team named after a cat. I challenge you to find a better reason to pick a sports team to follow.)

Gallimaufry

J.W. in Los Angeles, CA, writes: With regard to the question about people from Generation X and older generations who don't appreciate Taylor Swift, your answer covered a serious part of the matter. But there are a few other points to consider.

First, older generations never understand the music of younger generations. Some day, Swifties are not going to get whatever virtual robot singing sensation their kids are losing their minds for.

And maybe give the older folks some slack. Gen X and Boomers were young when rock and all its permutations exploded into popular culture. All forms of popular music were merging into different permutations where jazz, folk, blues, rock, country, and pop met to create new sounds every other day. And just among female performers, when you grew up with Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Cher, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Barbara Streisand, Dionne Warwick, Karen Carpenter, if you were lucky Nina Simone, and later Chrissie Hynde, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and my god, Annie Lennox... you see that Swift has a tough hill to climb with older folks. May not be fair, but context helps.

Finally, music in the digital world is profoundly different from the pre-MySpace days just a mere 25-30 years ago. Pop songs are made differently, performance is different, delivery is different. Milli Vanilli got run out of the business for lip synching, where live concerts today are regularly lip synched and virtually every vocal is pitch corrected, even in live performance... and this isn't particularly controversial. Discovery today is an entirely different universe. Where today an algorithm figures out what you like and delivers a compilation list to your device, in the past there was a constellation of taste-makers, curators, and friends with cool older siblings who put together mix tapes. A music journalist could launch a musician's career with a review in a newspaper. There was a huge section in the newsstand devoted to music magazines. You'd hang out in record stores browsing the bins, listening to the stuff the clerks were playing.

Female performers face very stiff winds in the music industry still. Swift is a talented songwriter. But in the end, Swift clearly doesn't need old people in her camp. And everyone doesn't have to like everyone else's music. But we should all try to approach new music as we did in our youth. And if you want someone to really experience something that excites you, maybe deliver it in a way they understand.

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R.P. in Brooklyn, NY, writes: You wrote on Saturday that AI is no more than an algorithm complex enough to seem intelligent to a human. The question you didn't ask is the extent to which human intelligence is itself just a version of a complex algorithm.

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A.H. in Espoo, Finland, writes: The response by (V) to M.R. in New Brighton about the artificial intelligence took me back to my school days in the seventies, when I took a class called "Automatic Data Processing." We were introduced to block diagrams, did some simple programmings using Basic, played a game of stiches with a computer that was situated in a nearby university. The computer's reply came on a printer—no screens back then. Our teacher taught: "A computer knows nothing." Still relevant, after all these years!

In my opinion, to make a decision you need emotions. I don't expect computers to feel anything in the near future. (Mr. Spock was lucky to have a mother from the earth.)

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R.T. in Arlington, TX, writes: It's spooky when a Q&A is directly on point with a thought you were already having before you saw it. During my morning walking reflection time, I was thinking that this era should be called "The Great Perturbation," where unmoderated thoughts got expressed on near infinite communication channels and resulted in disruption (perturbation) of a broad variety of well-established norms, customs, and laws, across a broad number of domains, at home and abroad, including international relations, the social contract, finance, business, immigration and so on. Donald Trump is clearly both a participant in and avatar for the perturbation, but the seeds were sown before he came to prominence. The Internet, ISIS, and COVID deserve credit as well.

The actual name will reveal which of the disruptions have stuck with us after things settled down.

Final Words

B.B. in Los Angeles, CA, writes: "Bebe a mí, bebe a mi salud, sabes que no puedo beber más," or in English, "Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can't drink anymore," were not Picasso's very last words, but they were among the last. And they became the basis for the song "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)," by Paul McCartney and Wings.

If you have suggestions for this feature, please send them along.

Reader Question of the Week: Trivial Pursuits (the Answers)

We promised the answers to yesterday's quiz; and now we deliver:

1. Three U.S. vice presidents have shared the same last name. What is that last name?
   Johnson (Richard, 1837-41; Andrew, 1865; Lyndon, 1961-63)
   
   
2. Within 10 billion, how many people have ever lived on planet Earth?
   120 billion
   
   
3. Marbury v. Madison (1803) was the first case in which the Supreme Court exercised judicial review to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional. What famous case marked the second time that happened?
   Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
   
   
4. What religious leader, who ran for President in 1844, was charged with treason against the states of Missouri and Illinois?
   Joseph Smith
   
   
5. Nintendo was founded in what century?
   The Nineteenth (1889)
   
   
6. Once known as Pig's Eye Landing, what Midwestern American city ultimately switched to a more respectable, religious-based name?
   St. Paul, MN
   
   
7. What nation is only 42nd in size by land area, and yet has the largest number of different time zones, with 12 (13, if Antarctica is included)?
   France (because it considers its overseas territories to be French territory)
   
   
8. Harry S. Truman and Ulysses S. Grant had the same middle name. What was it?
   S
   
   
9. Insulin, the pacemaker, alkaline batteries, basketball and Hawaiian pizza were all invented by citizens of what nation?
   Canada
   
   
10. What letter was the last to be added to the English alphabet?
    J (in 1524)
    
    
11. Laika the dog is notable as the first animal to do what?
    Travel to space
    
    
12. What board game was originally designed to show the evils of capitalism?
    Monopoly
    
    
13. The author who wrote the children's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is better known as the creator of what British character, featured in several dozen novels and an even larger number of movies?
    Bond. James Bond.
    
    
14. Three people, from three different nations (though all of them customarily portrayed as bearded), have been the subject of more than 5,000 biographies (nobody else comes within 1,000 of that). Name any two of the three.
    Jesus of Nazareth, William Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln
    
    
15. What was the first country to give women the right to vote in national elections?
    New Zealand (1893)
    
    
16. What was the first U.S. state to give women the right to vote?
    Wyoming (1869)
    
    
17. What duo taught Hap Arnold, the only American ever to be promoted to the rank of General of the Air Force, how to fly?
    The Wright Brothers
    
    
18. What state is home to all four largest cities in the U.S. by area?
    Alaska (Sitka, 2,878 square miles; Juneau, 2,702 square miles; Wrangell, 2,542.5 square miles and Anchorage, 1,704.7 square miles)
    
    
19. When Nichelle Nichols, who played Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek, was attending an NAACP luncheon to receive an award in 1967, the host asked her if she would mind meeting a fan in the audience. She agreed and mentioned that she was thinking of leaving the show. The fan immediately protested that it was very important that Americans saw an intelligent, capable Black woman in their living rooms once a week. If she left, the character could be replaced with an alien or a robot. He asked her to stay on the show, and she did. Who was the fan?
    Martin Luther King Jr.
    
    
20. In what decade of the 20th century were Americans with disabilities guaranteed the right to enter public buildings and private businesses?
    1990s
    
    
21. There are five universities that have produced a U.S. President and a Super-Bowl-winning quarterback. Name any two of those universities.
    University of Delaware: Joe Biden and Joe Flacco; Stanford University: Herbert Hoover and John Elway/Jim Plunkett; University of Michigan: Gerald Ford and Tom Brady; U.S. Naval Academy: Jimmy Carter and Roger Staubach and Miami University (OH): Benjamin Harrison and Ben Roethlisberger
    
    
22. Two states joined the union on the same day, in November 1889, and the order of entry was such a controversy in those states that the President actually shuffled the paperwork before signing and hid the names of the states so that to this day, no one knows exactly which state is 39th and which is 40th. What states are they?
    North and South Dakota
    
    
23. What movie, which is within shouting distance of its 100th anniversary, has been seen by more human beings than any other movie in film history (an estimated 2 billion viewers)?
    The Wizard of Oz
    
    
24. What president told Chief Justice Earl Warren, before the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954): "These [Southerners] are not bad people. All they are concerned about is to see that their sweet little girls are not required to sit in school alongside some big, overgrown Negro."
    Dwight D. Eisenhower
    
    
25. The United States has won the most medals in the Summer Olympics, with 2,765. What nation has won the most medals in the Winter Olympics, with 406 (as of Feb. 14, 2026)?
    Norway

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