Notes from around the Human Experience…
HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU: We’ve come to the conclusion it’s time for the Republican Party to fold up their tent and call it a day. They have not produced a decent elected president since Eisenhower and now that they control both the White House and the Congress, they are incapable of governing. The circus music is playing so loud now the capitol dome is now a circus tent and you get the impression Republicans in Congress could not agree on a resolution to wear black shoes to church on Sunday.
Not Your Fathers GOP: Faced with a golden opportunity to provide an economy anchored in low taxes and free markets and an America at peace, the GOP has taken a flier, preferring spiteful, partisan bickering to doing anything of substance. There is no better example of this than their attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) where they cannot get anything done.
They are getting zero leadership from President Trump, whose guidance is usually as vague as it is contradictory. The GOP-controlled Congress is in a box because they do not have anything of substance to offer, they are merely attempting to repeal the ACA out of rancor and spite, seldom the source of anything good in any aspect of human endeavor.
Mouseketeers Roll Call, Sound Off Now: Not only can they not govern now, the GOP has not produced a decent elected president since gas was 31 cents a gallon.
Nixon was a crook. Ford, never elected either vice president or president, was the best of the bunch, a decent, honorable man whose pardon of Nixon is, we think, generally looked upon favorably by History. Reagan’s great gift was being able to simply and powerfully state his goals. However, he was the most managed president in history, a precedent which still plagues us today. Neither George Bush could produce a decent spoken sentence, and and the second one lied to get us into war. Trump had nothing of substance to offer the country as a candidate and he has nothing of substance to offer as president.
Running The Numbers: Ford notwithstanding, that makes over five (5) decades since the GOP has produced a decent president. Five decades! Why we continue to tolerate them is almost beyond comprehension. It is time for the GOP to call it a day.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE! French soldiers find the Rosetta Stone in Rosetta, now Rashid, Egypt on this date in 1799, while they were reinforcing a fortress.
The stone is more or less a Valentine from Egyptian priests to their pharaoh. It was carved in 196 BC and is written in two languages, Greek and Egyptian.
Dry, Technical Matter: Later, the British would defeat the French in battle in Egypt and by the treaty known as the Capitulation of Alexandria, the French were obliged to turn over all archaeological finds to the British, and the stone is now in the British Museum. Requests to return the stone to Egypt are routinely denied.
Speaking Of French Army Losses: The Napoleonic Wars come to an end when Napoleon surrenders to the British on this date in 1815. They had begun in 1803, in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Napoleon was promptly exiled to an island in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821.
Great Moments In Georgia Rejoining The Union: Georgia becomes the last of the Confederate states to rejoin the Union on this date in 1870.
Despite the fact that all former Confederate states could now hold elections and send representatives to Congress, Reconstruction didn’t really end until 1877, when new president Rutherford B Hayes removed the remaining US troops from Louisiana and South Carolina.
Get Out Your History Books: Satchel Paige of the St Louis Browns becomes the first pitcher in major league history to give up two game-ending grand slam home runs in one season on this date in 1952.
Paige, who could not have been more than 73 years-old at the time, came on in the ninth inning against the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park to relieve Duane Pillette, who had started the inning leading 6-1 but left after giving up a solo home run and a single. Paige was hardly a puzzle, giving up three singles and then the game-ending home run to Eddie Joost.
The Post Game Show Is Brought To You By Old Style Beer: On June 11 in Boston Paige had also given up a game-ending grand slam to Sammy White.
Oh Yeah: The feat has since been equaled by Lindy McDaniel, Lee Smith and Francisco Rodriguez.
QuoteBook: To be free, the slave must first refuse the master’s gruel. – Vin Suprynowicz, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: It took 36 ballots for the House of Representatives to elect Thomas Jefferson president of the United States in 1801.
Today’s Stumper: Who was vice president of the United States under President Gerald Ford? – Answer next time!
