The Daily Dose/October 31, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
USA! USA!: The headline – considering the times – was not particularly unusual:
An Election Day role for National Guard? Maybe but limited.
Hardly surprising because it’s America in the third decade of the 21st-century, after all. Both our country and our government are partisan, fractured and bickering messes and to expect Tuesday’s election to go off without a hitch is probably folly. Something either slight or significant will get buggered up and someone will whine or, as likely as not, sue over it.
How The Mighty Have Fallen: On the other hand, even the prospect of troops being needed in a national election in the United States of America is, should be, should have been, beyond comprehension. We’re the United States, we invented modern democracy, goddammit. We’ve been electing presidents since 1789 and peaceably transferring power since 1797.
Dry, Technical Matter: This had always been something reserved for third world countries with little history of democratic government. Now, we have the prospect of it here and this prospect cannot be entirely dismissed. In fact, as noted, good luck to us getting through Tuesday’s election without some sort of fiasco happening somewhere.
#TeamAmerica: Adding to the thrills is the spectre of President Trump not relinquishing power should he lose, a chance we think is remote – Trump is not evil, he is merely ignorant and selfish – but cannot be entirely dismissed.
Stop Us If You’ve Heard This Before: All of this illustrates something we’ve been saying every hour on the hour for a while now, both here and in campaigns for the US House and Senate: our country is dying. America – always with faults but always a beacon to others, both individually and collectively – is now at the midway point between the influence, respect and esteem we once had and the oblivion that awaits us.
The Bottom Line: As always, though, our government is in our hands. We can vote for a lying sexual predator who believes the moon is part of Mars and who has blood on his hands for his incompetent handling of the coronavirus, or we can vote for a veteran public servant who is none of these things. The choice is not between freedom and socialism, it’s between an America that will be here two generations from now and an America that will not.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has a busy day at the Veterans Service Office.
My 1500 appointment turned out to be rather poignant…
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1517 – The Protestant Reformation begins when Martin Luther, a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany posts the 95 Theses to the door of All Saints Church. The theses protest assorted practices of the Catholic Church, including the selling of indulgences. Luther had intended the theses to form the basis for academic disputation, but they were quickly translated from the original Latin into German and distributed throughout Europe. The original doors the theses were nailed to no longer exist, replaced by bronze doors with the theses inscribed on them.
In 1987 – Marcel Dionne of the New York Rangers becomes the third NHL player to score 700 career goals in an 8-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Dionne had a power-play goal late in the third period, joining Phil Esposito (717) and Gordie Howe (801) on the 700-goal list. Dionne would retire after the 1989 season with 731 goals, a mark now good for fifth on the all-time list.
In 1981 – The Rolling Stones are at #1 on the Billboard 200 for the seventh of nine consecutive weeks with the album Tattoo You. The album went to #1 in five other countries and peaked at #2 in Great Britain and yielded three Top 40 hits: Start Me Up (#2), Waiting on a Friend (#13) and Hang Fire (#20). Due to the fact the members of the band weren’t all speaking to each other at the time, the album is mainly cuts from previously recorded material with additional vocals and instrument work added as needed. The album cover won the Grammy Award for Best Album Package for artist Peter Corriston.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
The cat does not negotiate with the mouse.
Robert K Massie
Peter the Great
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Dion, of Dion and the Belmonts, was named Dion Francis DiMucci.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
How many #1 albums have the Rolling Stones had on the Billboard 200? – Answer next time!
