The Daily Dose/August 1, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience…
HERE WE GO AGAIN: They’re not really news anymore, our mass shootings. The root of the word ‘news’ is ‘new’ and, of course, there is nothing particularly new about someone in America shooting up assembled people and killing them. Shock was long ago replaced with a shrug and some thoughts and prayers while noting how many died and where they died. Hashtags featuring the city’s name followed by ‘strong’ appear.
Dry, Technical Matter: There were two more shootings in America this week. On Sunday a lone gunman with unknown motives shot and killed two children and an adult in Gilroy, California. Twelve others were injured and seven remain hospitalized. The shooter was killed by police. On Tuesday a disgruntled Walmart employee shot and killed two and injured two others. He, too, was shot by police, but survived.
More Dry, Technical Matter: America remains a shooting gallery unprecedented in human history. Our national conversation on the Second Amendment is now a murmur. Sure, after each shooting the usual people say the usual things, and there are some calls for gun laws that criminals will never follow, but the large-scale arm-waving has left the American landscape. Us Americans have come to accept the wholesale slaughter of our fellow citizens.
Can We Talk? We can bicker about the Second Amendment all day, but this ignores the real point:
We have violent American citizens because we have a violent American government.
Violent homes produce violent kids and a country and her citizens are no different. America has been at war every day for the past 30 years and we are reaping that harvest right now with every mass killing. We have borne a generation-and-a-half of Americans who have never known their country at peace. Violence has long been America’s calling card and it is now the calling card of America’s citizens.
Gaylon For US Senate…Vote Early, Vote Often: It is not going to get any better, either, until we have an American government at peace and we are not going to have a peaceful American government until you and me – we the people – start demanding it at the ballot box on Election Day. Reelecting the status quo will solve nothing because if the status quo wanted an America at peace we’d have an America at peace. You know it, I know it, and the status quo knows it, too.
FunFact: No country has survived perpetual warfare and to think America will be the exception to that is as false as it is dangerous. Eventually, perpetual war – and our mindless spending – will destroy our country, with America eventually tossed aside the scrap heap of history, perhaps before this half-century is out.
Final Answer: The only dividend war provides is more war. We deserve better. Our planet and our country are entitled to see the dividends produced by an America at peace.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow laments the disappearance of Choco-Tacos from the sundry stand. Today’s Diary.
I think we might be out of Choco-Tacos for a while, maybe permanently…That new iced lemon bread appears to be moving pretty well, why I don’t know, it sucks compared to a Choco-Taco – I’ve tried both, of course, as a courtesy to our guests – but shelf space in the sundry stand’s small freezer is limited and we’re here to move product, dammit, bottom line…If Choco-Tacos aren’t selling as well as some lousy iced lemon bread, well, you know, the sundry racket can be tuff at times.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
More drivel! Click on the button to read all of The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future:
On This Date
In 2007 – A bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapses during evening rush hour. 13 people are killed and 145 are injured. A government investigation showed that steel gusset plates were undersized and unable to hold the intended load of the bridge. The plates were .5 inches thick and matters weren’t helped by an extra two inches of cement that had been added to the bridge over the years. A replacement bridge opened 13 months later.
In 1924 – Dazzy Vance of the Brooklyn Robins, later the Dodgers, establishes a new major league record by striking out seven consecutive batters as the Dodgers defeated the Chicago Cubs 4-0. Vance’s streak started with a strikeout of Gabby Hartnett to end the first inning and ended with a walk to Charlie Hollacher to start the fourth inning. Vance went the distance, striking out 14 and giving up three hits. The record is now 10 consecutive batters, done by Tom Seaver in 1970.
In 1981 – Rick Springfield is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of two consecutive weeks with Jessie’s Girl. It was Springfield’s second of 15 Top 40 hits and remains his only #1 song. The song also went to #1 in his native Australia, was Billboard’s 5th biggest song of the year and ranked 186th on Billboard’s Hot 100 60th anniversary chart in 2018. The song also earned Springfield a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
Quotebook
Nothing is weaker than water, yet when united it can become a titanic force. It overcomes because it is relentless.
Deng Ming Dao
365 Tao
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye also spent five weeks at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart in 1971.
Today’s Stumper
How many spots were there on Billboard’s 60th anniversary Hot 100 chart, what song was #1 and what song was the last entry? – Answer next time!
