The Daily Dose/November 3, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
USA! USA! We’ve said for a while now that America is foundering, halfway between the influence we once had and the oblivion that awaits us. We don’t think you can argue with this and anybody who tells you America is on a collision course with peace and prosperity is either deluding you, deluding themselves or, as likely as not, both.
The blame for this can be laid directly at the door of the White House: America simply has not had very much presidential leadership over the past few decades. By and large we are not being led, we are being managed, and not particularly well at that.
“The Only Limit To Our Realization Of Tomorrow Will Be Our Doubts Of Today”: Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a brilliant leader. We can quibble about his policies, but he was a master at explaining what we needed to do and how we would go about doing it. It was exactly what America needed at the time as he marshaled national will and collective talents into a single force, summoning every resource to win World War II.
“Since The Advent Of Nuclear Weapons, It Seems Clear That There Is No Longer Any Alternative To Peace”: Eisenhower was dull and introspective at a time when America needed it: the dawn of the nuclear age and the start of the Cold War and the post-Lincoln GOP peaked during the Eisenhower Administration. You plot a graph of GOP presidents from Ike to Trump and you have a perpendicular line and friends, it ain’t going up.
“…Not Because They Are Easy, But Because They Are Hard.”: President John Kennedy was brilliant, seeing the future and then demanding his country go out and seize it, the moon landings providing one of the seminal events in human history, a line of demarcation between everything that came before and everything that followed.
“My Fellow Americans, Our Long National Nightmare Is Over.”: President Gerald Ford took a lot of heat and lost the presidency because of his issuance of a pardon to Richard Nixon, but History, we think, has acquitted this decision. It required courage and foresight, something that has been in short supply in the presidency since.
“…Mars (Of Which The Moon Is A Part Of) …: Sigh. Where do we start? Donald Trump has been a disaster on so many levels, from his utter ignorance of things a bright middle schooler knows to the blood on his hands from his inept handling of the coronavirus. The line we seemingly trot out every five minutes still says it best, we think: Donald Trump is a lying sexual predator who believes the moon is part of Mars. You can’t argue with any of this: he lies daily, he admits to grabbing women by the pussy and genuinely believes the moon is part Mars.
The Bottom Line: We can do better than this. Today we’ll see if we want to. No matter who wins, though, expect a fiasco as our rotting, dying country protests the results.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has the latest news from the cat.
In animal bedding news, the cat has also taken to sleeping on the bed that is on top of a tall bookcase in the living room…Access to this is from a small desk right next to it and I put the bed up there a couple of months ago, maybe a few months ago, because the cat wasn’t using it when it was on top of the dresser in the bedroom.
The Bottom Ten/NCAA Week 10: Six (6) unvictoried teams, only three Bottom Ten medal stand berths. The race for the ESPNCup stumbles on. Offered with our compliments this season.
1. Vanderbilt (0-4; lost to Ole Miss 54-21)
Mitigating Factors: Commodores comeback strong after coronavirus-mandated two (2)-week break with dutiful, strong home loss…Vanderbilt still smarting from turn-of-century decision to merge Athletic, Student Affairs departments as pre-med students – training for future duties fighting COVID – take player’s temperatures after every play, resulting in NCAA-record 5,285 delay of game penalty yards, zero (0) fevers.
FunFact: Despite 2020 field being strongest in recent memory, Commodores in prime position to shed worst-team-never-to-win-B-10-title mantle.
Next Loss: at Mississippi State
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1868 – John Menard becomes the first black to be elected to the US House of Representatives, from Louisiana’s 2nd District. His opponent Caleb S Hunt disputed the results, however, to the House Committee on Elections and in February the House invited both men to address the Chamber. Only Menard took the House up on its offer and a vote taken in the House did not result in sufficient votes to seat either candidate, and the seat went unfilled.
Editor’s Note: History records this election as a special election to fill the unexpired term of James Mann, who died in August. However, this would have been the date for the regular election to the seat, and in March, 1869, the seat was filled by Lionel Sheldon. Research into how Sheldon obtained his seat was inconclusive.
In 1982 – Randy Smith of the San Diego Clippers establishes a new NBA record for most consecutive games played in a 130-111 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Smith played in his 845th consecutive game, breaking the record established by Johnny ‘Red’ Kerr from 1954-65. Smith would eventually play in 906 consecutive games, a record broken in 1997 by A.C. Green of the Dallas Mavericks, who still holds the record, retiring in 2001 with 1,192 consecutive games played.
In 1979 – M is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the only week with Pop Muzik. The song went to #1 in seven other countries including Australia and Denmark and peaked at #2 in Great Britain. Though M, actually Englishman Robin Scott, had several hits in Great Britain, Pop Muzik was M’s only US chart single, making him the fifth of only 14 acts whose only Hot 100 entry went to #1.
Editor’s Note: the 13 acts include those who are still active and may earn their way off the list. It does not include artists who have also charted as part of other acts nor acts whose only hit had multiple chart runs.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
Only when you have been in the depths can you truly appreciate the heights.
Richard Nixon
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The NBA record for fewest points in a game by both teams is 37 when the Fort Wayne Pistons defeated the Minneapolis Lakers 19-18 on November 22, 1950. Since the introduction of the 24-second clock, it is 119, when Boston defeated Milwaukee 62-57 on February 27, 1955, in Providence.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What teams did A.C. Green play for during his NBA career? – Answer next time!
