The Daily Dose/Friday, June 7, 2019
The Daily Dose/June 7, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Friends, The Daily Dose will return Saturday.
xoxoxo
Gaylon
The Daily Dose/Thursday, June 6, 2019
The Daily Dose/June 6, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
The clamor for the House of Representatives to impeach President Donald Trump is growing. We’ll share some thoughts on this at the end of this item, but first, let’s take a look at the impeachment process.
The Constitution states the House has the “…the sole Power of Impeachment” and that the Senate has “…the sole Power to try all Impeachments” with conviction requiring “…Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present”. It further states who can be impeached: the president, vice president other civil officers (mainly federal judges) and they can be impeached for “…Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”. There are no criminal penalties for conviction, only removal from office and the Constitution, with typical compression, does not define high crimes and misdemeanors.
That’s because everybody knew what high crimes meant back then: infractions committed as part of special duties inherited after taking an oath of office that can only be done by someone in that position. It was a phrase the Founding Fathers were well familiar with, the phrase having been used by the English and British parliaments since the 14th century. Misdemeanor is not defined by the Constitution, either and it is almost interesting to note the House has not always issued articles of impeachment for criminal offenses.
Over the centuries the House has impeached 19 federal officials: 15 federal judges, two presidents, one Cabinet secretary and one US Senator. The presidents were Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton 1998. Both were acquitted in their US Senate trials, Johnson by one vote. The House Judiciary Committee had drawn up articles of impeachment against President Nixon, but Nixon resigned the presidency before the entire House could act. The House also investigated President James Buchanan but declined to do anything.
We’re still working our way through the Mueller Report, but we think there is enough to go on to warrant an impeachment investigation by the House. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean we want to see the president impeached. This country is divided enough. But America is entitled to see what an impeachment investigation turns up. Maybe an investigation would turn up sufficient evidence for impeachment, maybe not. We don’t really care, but you and me – we the people – are entitled to know.
It’s too bad the ultimate decision will be based on what is in the best political interests of the Democratic Party instead of what is in the best interest of this country. As a practical matter they Democrats probably won’t impeach Trump because good luck getting the GOP controlled Senate to vote to convict the president, an acquittal that would probably make Trump seem like Rocky in his supporter’s eyes, galvanizing them and perhaps reelecting him.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: The MOD keys have been found, and it’s a slow day at the VSO. Today’s Diary.
I only had a couple of phone calls and Bob from the post stopped by…He had some paperwork that was a couple of years old and he asked about an old claim he’d had denied…I looked it over and told him no, you can’t receive payment for the same disease twice, even if there are two presumptive causes, in this case, Agent Orange exposure and some deal at Camp Lejune in the 1960s. There was really nothing I could do for him, and I think Bob just wanted to get out of the house and away from his wife for a while.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
The drivel simply does not stop: please click on the button to read The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future.
On This Date
In 1944 – The Allied invasion of Normandy, France – known as D-Day – begins, as 155,000 Allied troops land on the Normandy beach in northern France. Commanded by American General Dwight Eisenhower, the attack began shortly after midnight with aerial, naval bombardment, and with an airborne assault and the amphibious landings began at 6:30am. The invasion force consisted of 5,500 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels and 277 minesweepers and remains the largest seaborne attack in human history. The Allies lost 4,400 men on D-Day, the Germans about 1,000.
In 1946 – What would become the NBA is formed on this date in New York City, by ice hockey arena owners looking to fill open dates. Known then as the Basketball Association of America, it would field twelve teams that first season, with the Philadelphia Warriors defeating the Chicago Stags 4 games to 1 for the first BAA title. The BAA would merge with the National Basketball League to form the NBA in 1949. Today the NBA regards the BAA as its predecessor and recognizes its records and, in fact, considers the NBL merger as an expansion rather than a merger.
In 1981 – Kim Carnes is at #1 for the fourth of nine non-consecutive weeks with Bette Davis Eyes. For Carnes, it was her second of eleven Top 40 hits and it remains her only #1 song. Bette Davis Eyes went to #1 in nine other countries, including Norway and Italy, and was Billboard’s #1 song of the year, the second biggest of the decade and was ranked 17th on the Hot 100’s 60th-anniversary chart in 2018. It was originally recorded by Jackie DeShannon – who co-wrote it with Donna Weiss – in 1974, though it was not released as a single.
Quotebook
Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.
Louis L’Amour
The Walking Drum
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (1995-96) and Despacito Luis Fonzi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Beiber (2017) hold the record for most weeks at #1 on a Billboard pop chart with 16 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.
Today’s Stumper
What charter members of the Basketball Association of America are still in the NBA? – Answer next time!
The Daily Dose/Wednesday, June 5, 2019
The Daily Dose/June 5, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Leading Off will return.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Ring the bell, people, ring the bell. Today’s Diary.
You know, people, I don’t know what I need to do to get you to ring the bell…Merely standing diffidently at the front desk does not alert me to the fact you are at the front desk…I am in the back office and do not possess x-ray effing vision…I do not know you’re there unless there’s some noise…Hence the bell…And instructions to use it…As it was the guy – who wanted to buy some Tums – happened to move or do something to make a sound, so I headed on out…I have no idea how long he waited.
I could make the sign bigger, I suppose…The lettering is only a few inches high, and the sign is only placed in the middle of the front desk, so I can see where people have trouble seeing it.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
The drivel simply does not stop: please click on the button to read The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future.
On This Date
In 1989 – A person History now refers to as Tank Man prevents halts a column of advancing tanks in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square for a half-hour. The lead tank maneuvered but each time Tank Man maneuvered with it. Eventually, Tank Man climbed on the lead tank, chatted with the driver, before returning to his position in front of the column. He was later dragged away, his identity and fate still unknown. The act came a day after the Chinese military had suppressed protests in the square.
In 1981 – Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros becomes the all-time major league leader in walks allowed, walking Frank Tavares of the New York Mets in the second inning for career walk number 1,776. Ryan broke the record that had been held by Early Wynn. Ryan went the distance in the game won by the Astros 3-0, giving up five hits, striking out ten and walking two. Ryan would retire in 1993 with 2,795 walks, still the all-time record.
In 1943 – I’ve Heard That Song Before by Harry James and his Orchestra is at #1 on Billboard’s National Best Selling Records chart – a predecessor of the Hot 100 – for the 13th and final non-consecutive week. At the time it was the most weeks ever at #1 on a Billboard pop chart, a record that would be tied in 1950 (Goodnight Irene, Gordon Jenkins and The Weavers) and broken in 1992 (I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston, 14 weeks). Earlier, the song spent one week at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart, the first non-Christmas song by a white act to top Billboard’s pop and soul charts.
Quotebook
In order to succeed, you must be a person who is able to perform hard work repeatedly over a long period of time
Lee Labrada
American bodybuilder
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The only artist to take the same song to #1 in separate chart runs is Chubby Checker, who hit #1 with The Twist in 1960 and 1962.
Today’s Stumper
What song(s) currently hold the record for most weeks at #1 on a Billboard pop chart? – Answer next time!
The Diary of a Nobody/June 4
Meet Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Tuesday, June 4
The right drawer was $24.50 over tonight…Mark had told me this, tho he did not have an explanation why but why doesn’t matter…I merely put the excess in a baggie and wrote the amount and “right drawer overage” on the slip and left the matter for Brandon or Candace to figure out.
The Daily Dose/Tuesday, June 4, 2019
The Daily Dose/June 4, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Leading Off will return.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow deals with someone who couldn’t be bothered to read his “Ring Bell For Service” sign. Today’s Diary.
It’s a guy, probably a few years older than me, short, muscular with a biker shirt and biker hat on who looks like grunting might well be his preferred form of social interaction…However, he’s able to form the words required to ask me if I had any smokes lying around…He added he didn’t bring any this trip because he didn’t think he would need them, but his goddamned old lady was pissing him the f*ck off…He nodded knowingly at me, too, adding that I probably knew exactly what he was going thru…I shrugged and nodded in solidarity.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
The drivel simply does not stop: please click on the button to read The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future.
On This Date
In 1919 – The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote in the United States, is sent to the several states after passage by the United States Senate. The House had passed the Amendment on May 21, after several previous votes in both houses had failed. On June 10, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan became the first states to pass the Amendment and the 19th Amendment became part of the constitution on August 18, 1920, when it was ratified by Tennessee.
In 1911 – The Cincinnati Reds defeat the Boston Rustlers – later the Boston Braves and now the Atlanta Braves – 26-3. The Reds had 23 hits, including five doubles, three triples and a home run and all 13 players who played for the Reds scored, then a record for the most players scoring at least one run for one team in one game in major league history. The record is now 15, done by the Atlanta Braves in 1999.
In 1966 – Percy Sledge is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second of two consecutive weeks with When a Man Loves a Woman. The week before the song had wrapped up spending four weeks at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart. Sledge would return to the Hot 100 four more times and to the soul chart eight more times, but When a Man Loves a Woman remains his only #1 song. In 1991, Michael Bolton took the song to #1, making the song one of ten in the Rock Era to go to #1 twice, and one of nine to do so by different artists.
Quotebook
…for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.
Martin Luther
Imperial Diet, Worms, Germany
4/18/1521
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The Montreal Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cup titles.
Today’s Stumper
Who is the only artist in Hot 100 history to take the same song to #1 in seperate chart runs? – Answer next time!
The Diary of a Nobody/June 3
Meet Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Monday, June 3
At about 0138 this morning I’m in the back office when I hear what appears to be some grunting coming from the front desk…Peeved, half of me wants to wait until whoever it is reads the sign providing instruction on how to get my attention and rings the bell…I mean, the sign’s pretty clear: it says Ring Bell For Service not Please Grunt Like A Neanderthal For Service…But I’m not paid to make guests wait, I’m paid to take care of them in a timely manner, so I head out in moderately good spirits.
The Daily Dose/Monday, June 3, 2019
The Daily Dose/June 3, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: Andy Ruiz, Jr.: The heavyweight champion of the world.
We don’t pay any more attention to boxing than you do nowadays, but portions of the headline caught our eye. It read “Ruiz, Jr.” and “heavyweight champion”, words you don’t often see in the same sentence. It caught our eye because for the life of us we could not recall a Mexican heavyweight champion, and some research showed Ruiz, Jr is the first.
Now, this isn’t because Mexicans can’t box. Of course they can; they’ve won their share of titles in lighter divisions. But Mexicans aren’t the biggest race on the planet and decent heavyweight boxers from down south have been rare. Almost curious, we read the article and looked at the accompanying picture showing his trunks almost falling below his gut and thought holy crap, he’s fatter than us!!!
Well, almost.
By any athlete’s standard, except maybe sumo wrestlers, Ruiz is chubby. By a professional athlete’s standard, he’s fat and for the Heavyweight Champion of the World, he is positively obese.
It was great to see, especially since the man he beat, Britain’s Anthony Joshua, looks he was chiseled from a block of marble by Michelangelo. He took Anthony Joshua’s WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO, CIA, KGB, and NRA titles by knocking him down four times, the last one in the seventh round ending the fight on a TKO.
You know, there was a time when boxing was one of the Big Four sports in this country. The others were with baseball, college football, and horse racing, but that time has passed, it’s popularity fading since MMA took away the gloves and the rules to overtake it as American’s preferred sport for watching people beat the living crap out of each other. It’s probably too late to return to the forefront of American sports, but Ruiz, Jr. could be just what boxing needs. He knocked down The Man four times and now he’s The Man himself, a portly, friendly looking sort you’d feel comfortable getting a plumbing estimate from.
Eventually, he’ll run into someone fitter and, perhaps, better. But he’s likable, obviously talented, and now he is the Heavyweight Champion of the World, perhaps the type who help boxing regain some its lost prominence.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: The MOD keys are still missing at the hotel, it’s the return of Sunday Spaghetti Night (SSN), and The Wife has a really funny line. Today’s Diary.
…she mentioned how we seem to be getting some different birds at the bird feeder this season, something even a nitwit like me has noticed…This is because The Wife, again, changed the food we’re putting in the feeder to something even more premium than the previous premium crap, and she noted this batch has pieces of macadamia nuts in them…Christ, I said, noting that I don’t even get macadamia nuts…The line from The Wife:
“It’s high class now, even the squirrels are wearing bow ties.”
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
The drivel simply does not stop: please click on the button to read The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future.
On This Date
In 1965 – Gemini 4 launches from Cape Kennedy, Florida, America’s first multi-day space mission. Astronauts James McDivitt and Ed White completed 66 orbits in four days, with White becoming the first American to conduct a spacewalk, spending 20 minutes outside the capsule on their third orbit. (In March, History’s first spacewalk had been performed by the Soviets.) While Gemini 4 conducted several firsts for Americans in space, an attempt to rendezvous with the spent second stage of the rocket that propelled them into space failed.
In 1993 – The Montreal Canadiens win Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals over the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime, to tie the series at one game apiece. The Canadiens were trailing 2-1 and were two minutes away from being down 2 games to none when head coach Jacques Demers asks that the curve on Kings defenseman Marty McSorley be measured. It was found to be illegal and the Canadiens tied it on the ensuing power play on a goal by defenseman Eric Desjardins. Desjardins also scored the winner in overtime to become the first defenseman to score three goals in the Stanely Cup Finals. The Canadiens won the series in five games.
In 1972 – Donna Fargo, born Yvonne Vaughn, is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – with The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A. It was Fargo’s first hit single and the first of four consecutive #1s. The song would spend three weeks at the top and also peaked at #11 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Fargo last hit the country chart in 1991 and would finish her career with 16 top 10 country hits, including six #1s.
Quotebook
Michelangelo insisted the purpose of art, at least when practiced at the highest levels, was to channel the most profound aspirations of the human spirit.
Miles Unger
Michelangelo: A Life In Six Masterpieces
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Deniece Williams’ first #1 song both Billboard’s pop and soul charts was Too Much, Too Little, Too Late, a 1978 duet with Johnny Mathis.
Today’s Stumper
How many Stanley Cup titles have the Montreal Canadiens won? – Answer next time!