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The Daily Dose/September 13, 2025
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.

BACK TO THE FUTURE: Yesterday in this space we discussed how there is no middle ground in America nowadays, how the moderate is an endangered species. How did we get to this point? How did we get an America where the extreme elements are running the Republican and Democratic parties? 

USA 101: For practical purposes, America has always been this way, and we were a two-party country even in colonial times. But things always got done, a middle was found, and the extreme elements of early parties were relegated to the back benches. Now they are front and center. 

Fly In The Ointment: How did we get to this point? How did we get to an America where everyday sensibility and long-held mores are being challenged and dismantled? 

Dry, Technical Matter: It didn’t happen overnight. Our own opinion is that it started in the Reagan Administration. And it has nothing to do with Reagan’s policies, either. Rather, Ronald Reagan was the most managed president in history, his advisors turning shading perception to control public perception and reaction. – known as spin – into an art form. We have not recovered from that. 

The Bottom Line: We Americans tolerated this and eventually became accustomed to having our perceptions and reactions manipulated. Consequently, we were divided like never before. Compiance became mandatory and we accepted this and now our divisions are wide and deep. The America that shed British shackles, that ended slavery, that put men on the moon, is gone.

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow is already at a 50-hour sleep week. Today’s Diary. 

We’ve been sleeping great ever since we started doing that neck exercise, where you lay on your back with your legs up and a foam roller at the base of your skull…God bless all of you…

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Of course you would.
Click here. It’s only $24.99.

Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device. 

———

On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it. 

In 1814 – The US Army successfully defends Baltimore in the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. A British fleet of 18 ships had begun bombarding Fort McHenry, though damage was light because the fort had recently been reinforced and the battle ended the following day with a British withdrawal. The attack, and the sight of the US flag still flying the following morning, inspired Francis Scott Key, an attorney, to write a poem that eventually became the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner, the US national anthem. 

In 1872 – Tom Morris, Jr, becomes the first golfer to win four consecutive British Opens at Prestwich Golf Club in Scotland, defeating Davie Strath by three strokes. It was the fourth and final British Open and major title for Morris, and the first of two runner-up finishes for Strath, his best finishes. The tournament consisted of eight players, who played three rounds in one day. Morris, Jr remains the only player to win four consecutive British Opens. 

In 1969 – Johnny Cash is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – for the fifth and final consecutive week with A Boy Named Sue. It was Cash’s tenth of 13 #1 songs on the country chart and the song also went #1 country in Canada, and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100, Cash’s only Top 10 pop hit. The song was written by Shel Silverstein and was recorded live at Cash’s famous concert at San Quentin State Prison in California.

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

You yourselves have made these men great by giving them your support, and that is why you have fallen into evil slavery.
Solon

Answer To The Last Trivia Questions
Knowledge is power.

The US National Championship/US Open has been played on grass (1881-1975), on clay (1976-77), and on hard courts (since 1978).

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

How many stanzas are there in The Star-Spangled Banner? – Answer next time! 

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The Daily Dose/September 12, 2025
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.

READY…AIM…FIRE: Our first thought when we saw Charlie Kirk had been murdered was “who?” because we hadn’t heard of him before. However, his death was making the headlines of someone prominent, so we looked into him. We don’t get out as much as some others, and this was hardly the first prominent person to die whom we hadn’t heard of. 

Now We Know: Kirk was a right-wing activist. His views are mainstream by the standards of the third decade of the 21st century, but there was a time, not too long ago, when he would’ve been dismissed as an extreme right-wing ideologue. 

Fly In The Ointment: That time has passed because both parties are being run by their extreme elements, the species once known as “moderates” all but extinct now.

USA! USA!: We deserve better than this, but America cannot be bothered right now. We have twice elected Donald Trump president, a man of zero moral or intellectual substance, a man who blathers and bullies his way to what he wants. And Americans are doing what the bullied have done since time immemorial: complying and not making too much of a fuss. Voters complied by electing him, and bothCongress nor the Supreme Court are compliant, too. 

Dry, Technical Matter: Charlie Kirk deserved better than being assassinated, but political assassinations are becoming the norm now, so we should get used to them. 

The Bottom Line: There is no middle ground in America anymore. Going back to colonial times, America has always been a partisan country, but now we are a fractured and bickering mess, too, and the days of bipartisanship are gone for now. It is my way or the highway in America today, and if this doesn’t end, America will join, among others, the Romans and the Soviets on History’s scrap heap.

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow deals with a dolt the constable brings in. Today’s Diary. 

There was a blood draw, with the perp a guardhouse lawyer, who wanted an attorney and then we wanted to withdraw his consent for the blood draw, and then he wanted a lawyer to withdraw his consent for a blood draw…

———

Would you like 4Ever & Ever access to Gaylon’s crap?
Of course you would.
Click here. It’s only $24.99.

Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device. 

———

On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it. 

In 1959 – The Soviet Union launches Luna 2 toward the moon from a cosmodrome in what is now Kazakhstan. Two days later, the spacecraft would, by design, crash into the moon, becoming the first man-made object to touch another celestial body. A previous Luna mission had missed the moon by 3,600 miles, while several other Luna missions were successful, including Luna 9 in 1966, the first soft landing on the moon. 

In 1936 – Fred Perry of England wins the US National Championship – now the US Open – defeating Don Budge 2-6, 6-2, 8-6, 1-6, 10-8 at the West Side Tennis Club in New York City. It was the third and final US National Championship win for Perry and his eighth and final Grand Slam title, and was the only runner-up finish for Budge in the tournament, to go along with two titles. Perry remained the last British man to win a Grand Slam tournament until Andy Murray won the US Open in 2012. 

In 1970 – Edwin Starr is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the third and final consecutive week with War. It was the third of four Top 40 hits for Starr, his second Top 10 hit, and remains his only #1. The song also went to #1 in Canada, peaked at #3 in Great Britain and on Billboard’s soul chart, and was Billboard’s 5th-biggest song of the year. Amid some controversy, an earlier version by the Temptations was not released as a single, and in 1987, a version by Bruce Springsteen peaked at #8. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

Answer To The Last Trivia Questions
Knowledge is power.

The only Triple Crown winner to also win the Travers Stakes was Whirlaway in 1941.  

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

Over the years, what surfaces has the US National Championship/US Open been played on? – Answer next time!

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