The Daily Dose/January 30, 2018
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
KEEP EXPECTATIONS LOW, AS USUAL, AND NOBODY WILL BE TOO DISAPPOINTED: President Donald Trump – President Donald Trump! – will deliver the State of the Union address in the House of Representatives chamber at the United States Capitol tonight. Trump being Trump, he could sound downright presidential or he could blather. He will probably do both.
Dry, Technical Matter: A presidential address to Congress is mandated in the Constitution, Article II, Section 3 stating, in part, that the president:
…shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
Please Pass The Dry, Technical Matter: President Washington delivered the first State of the Union address on January 8, 1790. From 1821 through 1832 presidents delivered them exclusively in December and in 1934 President Franklin Roosevelt started the tradition of delivering them in January.
Back On Message: The economic numbers aren’t too bad. Wall Street is flourishing and the unemployment rate is a bit less than five percent but boy, anybody who has had to pound the street looking for work the past few years knows it’s tough to make a go of it. Employers figured out how to make a profit in tough times during the Great Recession and they are still hiring that way.
This really isn’t an indictment. One of the functions of businesses in a free market is adapting to current conditions. It’s what American business has been doing since the Pilgrims first traded with the Indians. American workers, spurred on by the disappearance of the once-proud private-sector American union, are currently content to take what employers choose to offer.
Fly In The Ointment: Now, nothing is perfect, but there are some aspects of our American Experience that if not checked will destroy our country, probably before this half-century is out.
American society, like it’s government, is partisan, fractured bickering mess. Gunfire is now our primary form of social interaction. We are coming up on three decades of non-stop warfare and President Trump is not stopping this.The American military presence in both Afghanistan and Syria is up and President Trump – correctly, really, – doesn’t fret too much over the details but he has given area commanders greater authority to take offensive action. None of these wars have been declared by Congress.
Gaylon For Congress…Vote Early, Vote Often: We have said this time and time again on the campaign trail:
We will not have a peaceful world – or peaceful American citizens – without a peaceful American government.
In Other News: Americans are so thrilled with their lives we are drugging ourselves to death in record numbers. In the 12-month period beginning in July 2016 and ending in June 2017 nearly 67,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, a 16-percent increase.
The Bottom Line: America continues to get the government it elects. We elect lousy leaders, we get lousy government. Nothing will change until we have the courage to toss the status quo aside.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE!: Richard Lawrence, a malcontent house painter, attempts to assassinate President Andrew Jackson on this date in 1835. Jackson was leaving a funeral at the United States Capitol when Lawrence jumped out of a crowd and bravely tried to shoot Jackson in the back, however his pistol misfired.
Jackson got lucky again because Lawrence’s second pistol also misfired. By this time Jackson sensed something wasn’t quite right behind him, turned around and began beating the snot out of Lawrence with his cane.
The Postgame Show Is Brought To You By The First Bank Of The United States: Lawrence was arrested and would spend the rest of his life in mental institutions. This also marks the first known assassination attempt against a sitting president.
Great Moments In Adolf Hitler: Adolf Hitler is inaugurated as Chancellor of Germany on this date in 1933. Recent parliamentary elections had not resulted in a majority government and Hitler had been offered as, of all things, a compromise candidate, though he had been reluctantly appointed by President Paul von Hindenburg.
Hitler would serve as Chancellor of Germany – while also adding other titles like Fuhrer and Most Evil Person in History – until his death in April 1945.
Oh, Bloody Hell: British paratroopers opened fire on unarmed protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland on this date in 1972. The protestors, between 10,000 and 15,000 strong, were protesting the arrest and confinement without trial of over 300 suspected members of the Irish Republican Army.
14 people were killed, 13 immediately and one later, and at least that many were injured. History refers to this incident as Bloody Sunday.
Quotebook: We are going to sing so that they will remember this for the rest of their lives. There is no other reason to do it, folks, none. – Garrison Keillor, Love Me
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: France has hosted the Olympic Games five times. They hosted the Summer Olympics in 1924 and 1900 and hosted the Winter Games in 1924, 1968 and 1992. They will again host the Summer Olympics in 2024.
Today’s Stumper: Two other men who would end up as senior members of the Nazi Party were sworn into cabinet offices in Germany the same Hitler became chancellor. Who were they? – Answer next time!
