The Daily Dose/May 1, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience
USA! USA! What’s funny in this whole coronavirus pandemic is not that the Trump Administration is insisting that their response to the crisis has been timely and sufficient. This is par for the Trump Administration course; describing things as they’d like them to be rather than as they are. It’s something most of us get over when we’re five, when we realize mommy and daddy don’t believe us.
The latest example came on Wednesday when the president proclaimed:
We did all the right moves. If we didn’t do what we did you would have had a million people die, maybe more, maybe two million.
FactCheck: And, actually, there’s some truth in what the president said: if the government hadn’t even bothered with their tardy, insufficient response, we might well be looking at one or two million deaths.
OTOH: Had a functional, competent government provided a timely and competent response, America’s death toll, now past that of the carnage in Vietnam, would probably be a fraction of what it is now. Our government has blood on its hands.
Back On Message: No, what’s funny – or, rather, sad – in all this is that you and me are taking it. Instead of calling a spade a spade and Mr Trump a liar, we are allowing ourselves to be told by the media that Mr Trump is merely framing the narrative or some other such nonsense.
Fly In The Ointment: This is false:
The president is lying to us!
He’s been lying to us since he announced as a candidate and he’s probably been lying since he emerged from the womb. There is no reason to believe anything he says yet we refuse to call him a liar. He is merely reframing the narrative. We continue to listen to him, giving his lies continued credence.
Here, Have Some Kool-Aid: What’s always been difficult to discern about the president is whether he knows he is out-and-out lying or whether he genuinely believes what he says. For example, when he says “we did all the right moves” even the most die-hard pro-Trump KKK grand wizard knows this is nonsense. But the media and, by extension, us, continues to treat his blather as if it is a substantive thought, a possibility to consider.
The Bottom Line: It’s not, of course, because President Trump is a man of zero intellectual substance. But we elected him, a lying, sexual predator who believes the moon is part Mars, and we are reaping that harvest right now. We deserve better than this, of course, but we are not going to get better until we demand it on Election Day.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow farts around in the kitchen. Today’s Diary.
Tho any idiot knows these ingredients are merely a recipe for gravy, at this point I’m still expecting goodness, an outlook that would prove to be a tad optimistic.
Click here get in on the laffs: Sparrow, The Bottom Ten, the funniest books you’ve ever read. We offer 4Ever and Ever access, or cheapskates can purchase books and columns individually.
On This Date
History’s long march to today.
In 1840 – The world’s first adhesive postage stamp is issued in Great Britain. Known as the Penny Black, it featured the profile of Queen Victoria and cost one penny. Previously, postage in Britain had generally been paid by the recipient, the amount determined by the number of pages and the distance traveled. The Penny Black allowed up to a half-ounce of mail to be sent any distance. It was only in circulation a year because those zany Brits found a way to erase the cancellation mark and re-use the stamp.
In 1901 – The Detroit Tigers establish new American League and modern major league records for most errors in a game in a 19-9 loss to the Chicago White Sox. The Tigers committed twelve errors – ten by infielders – and the all-time major league record for errors in a game is 24, by the Boston Red Caps (NL) on June 14, 1876. The Tigers couldn’t catch a cold that season, and their 425 errors, in 136 games, for the season is also a modern major league record. On May 6, 1903, the two teams put on another fielding clinic, when the White Sox tied the record, actually beating the Tigers 10-9. The 18 combined errors in this game is also a modern major league record.
In 1965 – Herman’s Hermits are at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of three consecutive weeks with Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter. It was the first of two #1 songs for the group (I’m Henry VIII, I Am, one week, 1965) and the second of nine consecutive Top 10 hits. Two weeks earlier the song had debuted on the Hot `100 at #12, making it the third-highest debuting song of the decade and the highest by an act not named the Beatles. Like some #1 songs over the decades, it was recorded as an afterthought at the end of a session, in two takes.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
What we do we are conscious-bound to do; we can do no other way. – Harriet Beacher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Michael Jackson has had five #1 albums on Billboard’s album chart. The Jackson 5/Jacksons have not yet topped the Billboard 200.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What were the two songs in the 1960s that debuted on the Hot 100 higher than Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter at #12? – Answer next time!
