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I Read the News Today, Oh Boy: FDR's Brush with Death

Many (perhaps most) readers will know that Franklin D. Roosevelt was the target of an assassination attempt on February 15, 1933, by which time he was already president-elect, and was less than a month from being inaugurated. The folks who do psychohistory propose that this caused him to think very deeply about how our time is short, and you have to make the most of each moment. In turn, that ostensibly caused him to put pedal to the metal with the New Deal, particularly the famous "first 100 days." It's an interesting theory—not really possible to prove or disprove. However, we do wonder if there might be a similar dynamic going on with Donald Trump. He may be thinking his time is short, trifecta-wise. Or, he may be thinking his time is short... in other ways. And maybe that is part of what is motivating him to push forward with his various initiatives, including his various grifts, at breakneck speed.

Anyhow, that's just a sidebar. Now, the main event. For last week's headline theme, we started out with this hint: "this theme is sometimes a little shi**y, although not as shi**y as last week's theme was, apparently." We later added: "if you are still working on this week's headline theme, you would do well to heed the Beastie Boys' advice and check your head. Especially if you are in the Navy."

And here is the solution, courtesy of reader C.S. in Haddonfield, NJ:

That was a good theme last week. I'm disappointed it didn't occur to me.

However, I have a handle on this week's; I didn't even have to jiggle it.

The theme is slang for restrooms/toilets:

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Definitely a little shi**y, sometimes. "Head," of course, is the term used for bathrooms on ships, especially military ships. And an FDR, from this headline, was a type of outhouse built by the millions by workers from the WPA.

Here are the first 50 readers to get it right:

R.S. in Landing, NJ
M.W. in Altea, Spain
K.G.W in Lafayette, IN
T.F. in Craftsbury Common, VT
R.J.L. in Columbus IN
M.V. in Oak Park, IL
R.R. in Westborough, MA
R.D. in Cheshire, CT
J.F. in Fayetteville, NC
S.K. in Ardmore, PA
M.B. in Denver, CO
M.S. in Canton, NY
T.K. in Half Moon Bay, St. Kitts
J.M. in New York City, NY
J.N. in Zionsville, IN
E.V. in Manchester, MO
M.Z. in Sharon, MA
C.W. in Atlantic Beach, FL
M.T. in Simpsonville, SC
C.C. in Stratham, NH
M.H. in Ottawa, ON, Canada
D.S. in Layton, UT
D.L. in Springfield, IL
P.L. in Skövde, Sweden
C.S. in Haddonfield

A.J. in Huddersfield, England, UK
E.S and C.S. in Maine, NY
M.K. in Long Branch, NJ
J.C. in Rialto, CA
D.C. in Teaneck, NJ
J.S. in Columbia, MO
M.L. in Simpsonville, SC
M.L. in West Hartford, CT
D.M. in Amagansett, NY
G.B. in Utrecht, The Netherlands
M.R. in Washington, DC
R.P.E.H. in London, England, UK
G.H. in Acton, ME
D.E. in Lancaster, PA
K.R. in Austin, TX
K.L. in Sterling, VA
A.O'N. in Wiesbaden, Germany
B.F. in Nashville, TN
D.B. in Glendale, CA
E.S. in Providence, RI
P.V. in San Francisco, CA
P.R. in Havertown, PA
S.F. in Pemberton Borough, NJ
G.K. in Blue Island, IL
M.C. in Newton, MA

The 50th correct response was received at 7:49 a.m. PT on Friday.

For this week's theme, it relies on one word per headline, and it's in the category Fashion. For a hint, we'll say that the idea came while (Z) was preparing for this week's World War II lecture, during which he shows the propaganda cartoon "Herr Meets Hare."

If you have a guess, send it to comments@electoral-vote.com with subject line October 24 Headlines. (Z)

This item appeared on www.electoral-vote.com. Read it Monday through Friday for political and election news, Saturday for answers to reader's questions, and Sunday for letters from readers.

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