The Daily Dose/November 6, 2018
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Editor’s Note: Gaylon is the Libertarian Party nominee for Congress from Colorado’s 3rd District.
In The News
It’s Election Day today in America of course, a day when a partisan, fractured and bickering country votes on their partisan, fractured and bickering government. There is no other way to describe. Our country is a complete and utter fiasco now, in full if-you-are-not-with-me-you-are-against-me, circle the wagons mode, with a lot of Americans refreshingly unopen to any viewpoint other than their own.
Which makes it hard for a third-party candidacy, like ours, to gain any traction whatsoever. Some carrying a third-party banner into an election like to rail against the duopoly or the media or any number of other things, but really, though, there are two battles that are very difficult to win.
One, this has been a two-party country since before the founding of this republic. Except for President George Washington’s two terms and perhaps, the Era of Good Feelings, when there was one major party, there has only been room for two parties here in America. Third parties are looked at askance, it’s candidates seldom taken seriously. Two, it is human nature to stick with the familiar even if it is not serving us particularly well. These are two very big hurdles to leap over.
But there is going to come a time when we are going to have to because, really, America must do something pretty soon because if three decades of continuous war and mindless debt are left unchecked America will be destroyed from within, tossed aside the scrap heap of history, probably before this half-century is out.
Today at the Site
Sparrow talks about Election Day and past campaigns on today’s edition of The Diary of a Nobody. Also, he spends his entire shift at the retailer on his treasured Aisle 5 even as he avoids wearing the silly hats the retailer is offering its employees.
We were so slow tonight I had fun with the 2145 closing page…Instead of saying “attention retailer shoppers” I said “attention retailer shopper”, singular, because there may not have even been one shopper in the store…It went over everybody’s head tho…There was no uproarious laughter from the front end and nobody commented on it at all, despite the fact it was really funny…They’ll miss me when I’m gone.
Rice! The Owls, in one of the not-so-biggest upsets in Bottom Ten history, take over the top spot after losing to previous #1 UTEP on The Bottom Ten/NCAA Week 11. Also, Division III Earlham retains the Continental Cup – issued to the team with the longest all-division losing streak in NATO – and stand back, here comes Rutgers.
10. Big Ten
Mitigating Factors: With lots of practice from dealing with Penn State, Michigan State, Ohio State scandals, once-proud conference able to take latest scandal at Maryland in stride to claim weekly, coveted B-10 Conference of the Week award…Though conference’s Competition Committee still sorting out rules, scheduling details, Big Ten expected to add Sexual Abuse as fully sanctioned sport with initial conference championship tournament tentatively slated for Playboy Mansion.
New Material Budget Is Still $0.00 I See: Despite outside distractions, conference able to focus and man up for strong .500 record in conference play.
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The Thought for the Day will return.
On This Date
In 1860 – Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States. Lincoln won 18 states, all of them in the north, and earned 180 electoral votes, defeating John C Breckenridge, John Bell and Stephen Douglas. Almost immediately, southern states announced their intention to secede from the Union and the Civil War started shortly after Lincoln was inaugurated the following March. Lincoln was reelected in 1864 and served until his assassination in April 1865.
In 1869 – Rutgers College defeats the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, 6-4 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Though the game bore little resemblance to today’s football, it is credited as the first college football game in America. Princeton would win a rematch at home the following week while the third game was canceled amid concerns football was becoming more important on campus than going to class.
In 1982 – Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes are at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 with Up Where We Belong, from the soundtrack to the movie An Officer and a Gentleman. The song would spend three weeks at #1, went to #1 in Canada, Australia and South Africa and won Cocker and Warnes a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. For Cocker, it was his only #1 on the Hot 100, while Warnes returned to #1 with Bill Medley with (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The other songs that spent at least four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972 were: Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert O’Sullivan (six weeks), The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack (six weeks), Without You by Nilsson (four weeks) and American Pie by Don McLean (four weeks).
Today’s Stumper
What parties was Abraham Lincoln associated with when he was elected president in 1860 and 1864? – Answer next time!
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