The Daily Dose/August 14, 2026
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
DRY, TECHNICAL MATTER: One noticeable trait in America right now is our diminished capacity for outrage. We simply are not getting worked up about things that 1) would have collectively infuriated us a generation or two ago and, 2) frankly should infuriate us now.
Leading Off: We should’ve been outraged when our government started sinking Venezuelan shipping. Under the guise that they were hauling drugs to America, these ships were sunk and mariners killed, essentially executed without a trial.
And In This Corner: We should’ve been outraged when we bombed an Iranian schoolhouse at the start of the war with Iran. 156 people were killed, including 120 schoolchildren, but that didn’t outrage us, either.
Here We Go Again: We should be outraged at the war with Iran in general, because it remains illegal, immoral, and stupid. Illegal because it was not declared by Congress. Immoral because we killed schoolchildren. Stupid, because we are fighting to retain conditions that existed before the war, a circumstance that is causing History’s great commanders to roll in their graves.
USA! USA! Why we’re not capable of outrage anymore is not clear, though we have a theory: we are now in our seventh decade of TV and fast food occupying central places in American life. We are well entertained and well fed and aren’t really willing to get too worked up about anything that doesn’t affect that. We have full bellies and empty minds and, collectively, America is no longer capable of doing anything great or hard.
The Bottom Line: We deserve better than this. We deserve a government that doesn’t execute mariners on the high seas, doesn’t bomb school children, and only fights wars declared by Congress. But we’re not demanding that right now. For the second time, we elected a man of zero moral or intellectual substance president; we are being governed accordingly, and we are not getting to worked up over it.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow reports on the county fair. Today’s Diary.
The county fair’s a thing this week and to celebrate we’ve been driving by it every night heading to and from the gym, to make sure it was as hopelessly boring as ever…
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 1936 – The last known public execution in the US is conducted in Owensboro, Kentucky. Rainey Bethea was executed in an empty lot near the county garage for raping and murdering a 70-year-old woman the previous June, with Bethea becoming a suspect after leaving a ring at the scene. Kentucky outlawed public executions in 1938, with two executions before then held in private.
In 1982 – Pete Rose of the Philadelphia Phillies establishes a new major league record for most career at-bats in a 15-11 win over the Montreal Expos. Rose passed Henry Aaron with his 12,365th at-bat, and five days later Rose would become the all-time leader in plate appearances with 13,941. Rose retired in 1986 with 14,053 at-bats and 15,890 plate appearances, both records that still stand.
In 1966 – The Lovin’ Spoonful is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of three consecutive weeks with Summer in the City. It was the seventh of twelve Top 40 hits for the group, their seventh of nine Top 10 hits, and was their only #1 song. The song also went to #1 in Canada, peaked at #7 in Great Britain, and was Billboard’s 35th-biggest song of the year.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
This species could have been so great, and now everybody just wants a new Salad Shooter or sneakers with lights in them. This is what we’ve settled for.
George Carlin
Answer To The Last Trivia Questions
Knowledge is power.
Switzerland, France, and Great Britain have participated in the most combined Olympic Games, 55.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
The leader of the Lovin’ Spoonful had a #1 song as a solo act in the 1970s. Who was it? – Answer next time!
