The Daily Dose/April 18, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, another of the 500 Democratic presidential hopefuls, became the latest to release past tax returns, doing so for the past ten years this week. They show he and his wife have pulled down some good dough over the years and are comfortably amongst the top one percent of American earners. Bully for them. As we’ve noted in this space before, we don’t particularly want too see anyone’s tax returns – ours are sufficiently depressing – because every citizen’s relationship with the IRS must remain private. It’s none of our business and while candidates are free to violate that privacy on their own, don’t be surprised if we, and a lot of others, yawn.
Sanders, who will never be truly happy until every citizen feeds from the government trough, had these comments while discussing his tax return release. Listen up, because this is dangerous:
I will continue to fight…so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people.
This is really not a bulletin from Sanders: he has long advocated cradle-to-grave government coverage for American citizens. But it is not the purpose of American government to do this. The purpose of our American government is to provide for our liberty, not ensure our prosperity. A government taking care of its citizens is not what our Founding Fathers envisioned and, deep down, it’s probably not you envision, either.
It is not the purpose of government to guarantee the American Dream to anyone: me, you, your aunt in Reno. The purpose of government is to ensure everyone is in position to chase whatever their version of the American Dream happens to be.
We all have 24 hours in every day, the only commodity each of is issued in equal measure. What we get of our lives must be dependent on how we use those 24 hours, not on what our government chooses to do, or not do, for us.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow is in the big city for VSO training. It’s Sparrow; an average man passing an average life.
Then I made my way to the VA regional office, located a bit west and south of downtown, where I spent a pleasant, informative afternoon with James, an army vet who is a state service officer…A friendly sort, he was wearing an old green polo shirt, probably his favorite, and an old white, crew neck t-shirt underneath that, probably another fave…I’ll tell you something, he covered the types of claims and the forms I’ll need to fill out for them and while I’ve already forgotten a lot of it, if I went back tomorrow I’d already be exponentially better off than I was yesterday and could be of pretty good service.
Click on the button to read The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future.
Criminals, Courtesans, and Constables: Friends, my latest novel is now available, for $3.99 until later this week when the price goes up a couple of bucks. Criminals, Courtesans, and Constables is about a nice guy who runs high-class call girls in and out of 5-star suites and throne rooms, collects ransoms and runs from the constables. Hilarity ensues.
Click here to read excerpts and a sample chapter.
On This Date
In 1775 – Paul Revere makes his famous midnight ride, warning his fellow colonists about the impending arrival of the British Army in what is present-day Somerville, Medford, and Arlington, Massachusetts. Later that night, Revere, and others, would be detained by the British, though they were later released when the British decided to retreat, due in no small measure to how well Revere and company did their work. The American Revolution would begin two days later with the Battles of Lexington and Concord.
In 1981 – The longest game in the history of American professional baseball begins in Pawtucket, Rhode Island as the Pawtucket Red Sox host the Rochester Red Wings. The game would be suspended at 4:07 the following morning tied 2-2 after 32 innings. Pawtucket scored one run in the bottom of the ninth to tie it and each team scored in the 21st inning. The Red Sox won the game in the 33rd inning on June 23.
In 2015 – Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars is at #1 in Billboard’s Hot 100 for the 14th and final week. At the time, it was only the eighth song in the Rock Era to spend at least 14 weeks at the top, and fell two weeks short of the all-time mark of 16 weeks by One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (1995-96), and equaled in 2017 by Despacito by Luis Fonzi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Beiber. Uptown Funk went to #1 in 16 other countries, including Lebanon, Israel, and Hungary, was Billboard’s biggest song of the year and ranked 4th on their 60th-anniversary chart in 2018.
Quotebook
…a man’s life is rather like a pond: if you add no new water, the pond will evaporate. Gore Vidal
Creation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
John Young and Gene Cernan are the other two astronauts besides Jim Lovell who flown to the moon twice.
