First Nation to Abolish Slavery?

Vermont, by its founding constitution in 1777.   See link, cf.  link.

Wait a minute, nation?   Yes.  Apparently Vermont counted as an independent nation until it was folded into the United States in 1791.   

Return to Underbelly.

How Many Battleships in Acfive Service?

The answer is "none."  The last two--the Iowa and the Wisconsin--were striken from the Naval Register in 2006.  Link.  Their demise ended a long trajectory of development which perhaps began with the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, the first which actively involved aircraft carriers.  Return to the question.

And FWIW I just saw a tweet saying that the world's fifth largest navy belongs to Disneyland.

Wilder's Endings

Both films end with two men in an intimate moment as one confesses his affection for this other.  You don't get that in Sunset Boulevard.

Who Is It?--Dimitrios

The story of Dimitrios Makropoulos, eponymous protagonist, or at least focal center of Eric Ambler's Coffin for Dimitrios, outside the US The Mask of Dimitrios. It's the first great modern espionage novel. My 60-cent Dell Publishing edition bears an imprint date of 1964, but with an original copyright of 1939.  The speaker is the narrator, Cornelius Leyden--Peter Lorre in the movie--who spends the book trying to untangle the life of the mysterious (and absent) title character.  I know Ambler had precursors but I'd say his work, and particularly this his best book pretty much define the genre.   But then, I didn't know until tonight that he also wrote the novel behind Topkapi, which used to be a favorite movie of mine, although I guess I haven't seen it for 40 years.

Translation

Free rendering from the Cincinnati dialect phrase, "a-coppin' his joint."

Tbe Rough Beast

It's Here

Bridge over the Seine behind Notre Dame Cathedral. Lovelocks. Return to Underbelly.

Who Said It? Too Intellectual

That would be Jean-Luc Mélenchon, flanking the socialist frontrunner from the left, as quoted in the newspaper Le Monde.  The speaker continues: 

Then he held up some sheets of paper and announced: "I will do something we never do in a meeting:   read you a passage of the greatest populist novel, that of Victor Hugo, Les Misérables." And now, before this enchanted audience, the great writer's words revive the rioters of 1793: "those bristling men who in the early days of revolutionary chaos, ragged, howling, ferocious, the bludgeon raised, the pike high, rushed on the old Paris in an uproar ...

In the original: 

"On m'a dit que mon problème avec vous, c'est que je suis trop intellectuel..., a-t-il commencé. J'ai répondu que je ne l'étais pas assez. Car le peuple est bien plus cultivé que ne le croient les puissants, et lorsqu'il ne l'est pas il aime quand même les belles choses..." Puis il a brandi quelques feuillets et annoncé : "Je vais faire quelque chose qu'on ne fait jamais dans un meeting : vous lire un passage du plus grand roman populiste, celui de Victor Hugo, Les Misérables." Et voilà que, devant ce public enchanté, les mots du grand écrivain ont fait renaître les émeutiers de 1793, "ces hommes hérissés qui, dans les jours génésiaques du chaos révolutionnaire, déguenillés, hurlants, farouches, le casse-tête levé, la pique haute, se ruaient sur le vieux Paris bouleversé..."

Back to the question here.

Who is the Lucky Child?--Answer

"Luck" is, as always, relative.  The answer is Tony Judt, who died last year after a heroic struggle with Lou Gehrig's disease.  The quotation comes from a stunning memoir by his wife, Jennifer Homans, free content in this week's New York Review of Books.  For a dialog between Tony and his 15-year-old son, go here.

"Remembering" Alton B. Parker

He was the Democratic nominee in 1904, the only Democratic nominee in 16 years who was not William Jennings Bryan.  Wiki reminds us that he lost to Theodore Roosevelt.  Wiki calls it a "landslide," but in terms of electoral votes, it was only 336-140. which to Alf Landon and George McGovern would appear almost a squeaker.    I remember him only because I tend to remember things like "the most forgettable president in the 20th Century."    But can he truly hold his ground against Dukakis?  Can't say for sure, but Alton B. Parker never let Willie Horton out of jail, and never pretended to drive a tank.