The Daily Dose – May 14, 2017

Posted on May 14, 2017 by Gaylon

WE HAVE SOME GOOD NEWS AND WE HAVE SOME BAD NEWS: The good news is Donald Trump has met every expectation we set for his presidency.

Fly In The Ointment: The bad news is those expectations were rock bottom to begin with. As we said during the campaign, Trump was a misfit as a private citizen and he was a disgrace and an embarrassment as a candidate and there was no reason to expect that President Trump would be anything more.

He hasn’t been, of course, succeeding beyond even our low expectations. It is, thankfully, beyond the scope of today’s column to detail every Trump embarrassment, but we have our faves and we’re certain you have yours, too. 

Eureka! We’ve Found The Point To This Column: Today we are going to discuss whether or not President Trump will complete his term. It’s fair to ask this question now, following his dismissal of Dick Comey as FBA Director because a president firing a law enforcement official who is conducting an investigation into the president’s conduct will get concerned citizens thinking of these things.

“I Am Not A Crook.”: On the surface, this whole imbroglio stinks. As further layers are uncovered, as they will be, it may stink even more and based on what we know and love about Trump it is not completely unreasonable to come up with scenarios where Trump has committed impeachable offenses.

This would cause problems because good luck getting a GOP-controlled House of Representatives to impeach one of their own, even a president as divisive as Trump.

Unless, of course, a significant number of Republicans were prepared to ditch their party.We’ve discussed this before here. We thought a Trump defeat last November would spell the end of the GOP. Good riddance. The party of Lincoln has a lot to answer for and its demise is long overdue, but a Trump victory might end up doing the job for us.

Get Out Your History Books: Three times the House of Representatives has impeached a president. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were both tried and acquitted by the United States Senate while Richard Nixon resigned before the Senate could hold a trial.

The Bottom Line: A president, of course, can fire an FBI director at his discretion, but this whole episode, of course, reminds those of a certain age, like us, of President Nixon’s firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox, an event History refers to as the Saturday Night Massacre, and we all know that turned out.

GREAT MOMENTS IN WHITE MAN COLONIZING THE NEW WORLD: The first permanent settlement by the English in the New World opens for business on this date in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia.

It was not the best place to start a colony. The Indians had determined the area was unsuitable for living because it was in a marsh that was home to mosquitoes. The colonists, who lacked a knack for farming anyway, had arrived too late to plant crops and few of them had any concept of the hard work required to make a go of it and within three months 80 percent of the colony had died.

This Won’t Hurt A Bit…Well, Maybe A Little: Edward Jenner, an English doctor, administers mankind’s first vaccine on this date in 1796, injecting an eight-year-old boy with pus from a cowpox blister, to guard against smallpox. Though the boy caught a fever and some general uneasiness, he did not contract smallpox. This was not the first time someone had been inoculated, Jenner himself had been inoculated against smallpox as a boy, but Jenner’s work would lead to mankind’s first vaccine against a disease. Jenner is referred to by some as the Father of Immunology and is generally thought to have saved more lives than anyone else.

Don’t Forget To Write: The Lewis and Clark Expedition, three dozen soldiers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and 2nd Lieutenant William Clark, depart from Camp DuBois near St. Louis to explore the Missouri River on this date in 1804.

Dry, Technical Matter: The Expedition would return to Camp Dubois on September 23, 1806. They received a heroes welcome, however, most people had presumed everyone had died.

This Should Ensure Middle East Peace: Israel is declared an independent state on this date in 1948. Her Arab neighbors immediately welcome Israel to the neighborhood by attacking her, leading to the Arab-Israeli War.

Thought For The Day: The glue of rapport and trust that holds men together during difficult times was being poured and starting to set. – Dr David J Peck, Or Perish in the Attempt: Wilderness Medicine in the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The oldest men’s track and field record is the discus record 243 feet, set by East Germany’s Jurgen Schult on June 6, 1986. The oldest women’s record is the 800 meter record of 1:53.28 set by Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czechoslovakia July 26, 1983. 

Today’s Stumper: How many people died on the Lewis and Clark Expedition? – Answer next time!

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The Thought for the Day – Thoreau

Posted on May 14, 2017 by Gaylon

If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad of instances and applications? – Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Henry David Thoreau needs no introduction to most, and certainly not to our regular readers. HIs views on reducing your life to its most basic terms, on proceeding confidently in the direction of your dreams, continue to provide valuable lessons on a life well-lived.

Today’s Thought could be considered contradictory by some, because one of the lessons Thoreau teaches, and one preached constantly here at The Thought for the Day, is to follow your hearts and trust your instincts. Your heart will tell you where to go in this life and your instincts will tell you how to get there and the people who make good things happen for themselves in this life do this every day. Not some days or some years. Not every other day or when it’s convenient, but every day.

If we were to follow today’s Thought to the letter, we would have stopped writing years ago. After all, we’ve been writing for many years and our thoroughly familiar with the principle, so why bother to do it every day? Well, because it’s what we were put here to do. To not do it would not be doing anyone any good whatsoever. Us humans must never stop doing what we were meant to be doing.

What today’s Thought refers to are other things that come up during a life, specifically things we should do in small measures because they do not provide a dividend – like being entertained – or aspects of our lives we should wind down because a cycle of our life is ending and it is time to move on to something else.

Our personal example is, again, sports officiating. We did it, very well, for many years but we seldom officiate anymore. We had become about as good as we were going to get and had accomplished all we cared to, and when you’ve come to that point in any experience it is time to consider casting this experience aside. We had come to the end of our interest, were acquainted with the principles officiating taught, and were prepared to do other things.

There comes a time when we’ve withdrawn every possible benefit from an experience. When we’ve done that we should be both grateful and ready to set the experience aside.

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The Thought for the Day – John Wooden

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Gaylon

Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. – John Wooden

John Wooden was the basketball coach at UCLA for many years, retiring with ten NCAA championships, still a record for men’s teams, though Geno Auriemma  who coaches the women at the University of Connecticut, has won eleven. We grew up in Los Angeles and still remember UCLA winning a national title or two, and Wooden’s retirement after his last one. We attended his basketball camp a couple of times growing up, his influence on our life has been profound, and forgive us if we feel entitled to call him Coach.

Our last Thought for the Day talked about success being there for anyone with the smarts to formulate a plan for their life and the courage to execute that plan. Success means different things to different people, but Wooden’s definition of success is cuts right to the heart of our human experience.

…knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

What else is there in this life? We talk a lot about the 24 hours in a day, and are fond of saying they are the only commodity each of is issued in equal measure. The proper utilization of these hours will determine whether we have a life well spent or a life that leaves us wondering if there might not have been something more.

Every day we must ask ourselves if we are we putting our hours to good use or are we squandering them on things that do not produce a dividend? Are we tending to what nature is telling us to do, or are merely being entertained? Are we following our hearts and trusting our instincts, or do we spend our time reacting to outside forces?

The happiest lives are spent by those following their hearts and trusting their instincts because our hearts tell us what we are meant to do with our lives and our instincts tell us how to get there.

It ain’t easy. Everyday there are any number of things to throw us off course, which means we must be diligent in living the life we were meant to lead. We cannot be on our path some days and not others, some months and not others, some years and not others. We must be relentless, on our path every day. It doesn’t really matter what that path is, either. All that matters is that it is yours, a path you were led to by something deep inside you.

When you are doing what you are meant to do with your life, and when you have become your very best at what you were meant to do, success will be there, having patiently waited for your arrival. 

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The Thought for the Day – Franklin Roosevelt

Posted on May 9, 2017 by Gaylon

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
– Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Some may not be familiar with today’s Thought because it comes from the last paragraph of a speech FDR never delivered, written in Warm Springs, Georgia on April 11, 1945, the day before he died.

Leaders spend an awful lot of time overcoming human nature, in themselves and in those they are leading. Roosevelt’s brilliance lay not so much in his policies but in his ability to combine a variety of factors, not the least of which was his own intuition, to sense what his fellow citizens were thinking and feeling. This meant that when it came time to mobilize America to fight World War II, FDR was in a position to do it.

America mobilized for war in a manner unprecedented in history and it was this outpouring of manpower and production that put America and the Allies in a position to win World War II. The numbers American workers out up from 1940-45 were staggering: 300,000 planes, two million trucks, 107,000 tanks, 5,400 cargo ships, plus equally staggering amounts arms and ammunition.

Would another president have been able America’s talents and resources like FDR did? Perhaps, but I doubt it. FDR knew his fellow citizens and, by and large, they trusted him, allowing FDR to allay their fears and overcome their doubts. Had they not, America and her Allies might not have been successful.

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

What doubts do we have in our personal lives that are preventing us from realizing the tomorrows we deserve? Is it a fear of failure? A fear of success? A sense that it really doesn’t matter or that success is for others?

Nonsense. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is, success is there for anyone smart enough to have a plan for their life and courage to see it through. When we eliminate the doubts of today, we put ourselves in a position to realize our dreams of tomorrow.

 

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The Thought for the Day – John F Kennedy

Posted on May 7, 2017 by Gaylon

We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. – John F Kennedy, Rice University speech, 9/12/62

Regular readers of our crap know we are unabashed space fans. The Apollo 11 moon landing is our earliest memory and for our money, it remains mankind’s finest hour: a line of demarcation separating all that came before from everything that has followed. Though the 1960’s were as tumultuous and divisive a time as the second decade of the 21st century, we were able to marshal the best of energies and skills and hopes as a society and a species to turn, as NBC’s Roy Neal said, “man’s age-old dream into reality”.

Unfortunately, the next step, a manned mission to Mars, was never pursued, even though we probably could’ve gotten there in the 1980’s had we wanted to.

We didn’t though. The last Apollo mission flew in 1972 and the space shuttle has been retired and now America, the only nation to put humans on the moon, cannot even send its astronauts into space anymore. America has stopped striving and the best of our collective talents, energies, and skills are being wasted.

We are feeling the effects of this, too and we do not have to search too far into the future to see the Great American Experiment ending because America’s demise is now the light at the end of the tunnel. There is simply too much war and too much debt and our society is too fractured to seriously believe America will flourish in the long-term.

…because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills.

As a nation and as individuals we must demand and expect our very best. The best way for us to do that, to marshal our collective best, is for us to organize and measure our personal best every day. Each day has 24 hours, the only commodity all humans are issued in equal measure. Are we putting those hours to good use, or are we squandering them? Are we making our time serve us, or are we merely marking time while on this planet?

Friends, we have a collective responsibility to make our time serve us. When enough of us do that, we’ll have a country that is its collective best, a country that is flourishing, at peace with itself and the rest of the world, and not within a generation or two of collapse.

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The Daily Dose/May 6, 2017

Posted on May 6, 2017 by Gaylon

The Daily Dose/May 6, 2017
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

DID WE CALL IT OR WHAT? Before the election we said Donald Trump was an embarrassment as a candidate and there was no reason to believe he would be anything less as president.

Whether believing Frederick Douglass is still alive – and, no doubt responsible for the dreaded Bowling Green massacre – or saying what he wants when he wants without regard to whether or not it makes sense or is even true to schmoozing dictators to a thousand other things, we were right. The Trump Administration – Trump Administration! – has been, is and will continue be, a fiasco.

Not that Trump himself is feeling any embarrassment. Trump being embarrassed is probably a phenomenon on par with planetary alignment.

Keep Expectations Low, As Usual, And Nobody Will Be Too Disappointed: But he is embarrassing our country. Educated but unwise, smart but senseless, Trump has passed the 100-day mark of his presidency meeting even our rock bottom expectations for his term.

Oh Yeah: He is, however, doing a brilliant job of utilizing his only real talent: drawing attention to himself.

Dry, Technical Matter: Here’s something else we said during the campaign: a real media would never have allowed Trump to get into the primaries, much less win the GOP nomination and the presidency, in the first place. A proper media would have would not have put up with the nonsense of Candidate Trump and would have had him out of the GOP race within a week after he announced his candidacy.

Gaylon For Congress, Vote Early, Vote Often: We said this every hour on the hour while running for the United House of Representatives last year and the United States Senate in 2014:

Our nation will collapse, probably before this half-century is out, if we do not end our perpetual wars and mindless debt.

Forget every other issue, even your pet favorite, because none of them matter. Anyone who believes America can continue perpetual warfare and mindless debt and survive, much less flourish, is high, legally in some states.

The Bottom Line: Trump has no interest in an America at peace, probably because peace draws less attention than war, just like he has shown some zero interest in fiscal responsibility. In 2020, when we elect a president again, there will have been no progress made on any issue affecting the long-term stability of our nation. We will have spent those four years marking time, four years closer to the collapse of our once-proud nation.

GREAT MOMENTS IN OH THE HUMANITY!: The German airship Hindenburg catches fire and crashes in Lakehurst, New Jersey on this date in 1937. 35 of the 97 people on board died, as did one man on the ground. The newsreel footage and radio announcer Herbert Morrison’s account, remains one of journalism’s iconic moments.

LOL: What’s almost interesting is Herbert Morrison’s account, originally recorded for a Chicago radio station, wasn’t immediately attached to the news reel footage. History did not record exactly when it was combined with the footage, but it is generally agreed it was many years later.

Get Out Your History Books: Englishman Roger Bannister becomes the first human to run the mile in under four minutes on this date in 1954.

Dry, Technical Matter: Running in a meet at Oxford University, Bannister ran the mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.

FunFact: Bannister broke the record of Sweden’s Gunder Hagg, who ran the mile in 4:01.4 in 1945. The current record is 3:43.13, held by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj, in Rome in July, 1999.

Thought For The Day: Towering genius disdains a beaten path. – Abraham Lincoln

Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Rear Admiral Richard Byrd, a noted explorer and Medal of Honor recipient, is the only person to be honored with three ticker tape parades in New York City.

Today’s Stumper: What is the oldest men’s and women’s track and field world records? Answer next time!

 

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What President Trump Did Say and What He Did Not Say

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Gaylon
 At the end of his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday, President Donald Trump said we should believe in ourselves and believe in our future.

 

Why?

Why should we believe in ourselves or our future when our government isn’t giving us anything to believe in? Mr Trump gave no indication he is going to do anything to address the issues that will ultimately destroy this country.

Forget what he did say. Here’ what he didn’t say:

“We are going to have an America at peace with the rest of the world.”

“We’re going to have an economy anchored in low taxes and free markets.”

Doing both of these things will go a long way toward making America great again.

An America at peace with the world will result in a less violent world and a less violent America.

An American economy anchored in low taxes and free markets will flourish, giving consumers more money to spend and businesses more money to meet our growing demands.

Instead, all the Trump Administration is prepared to offer is more war and more debt. Anyone who believes that America can survive perpetual war and mindless debt with impunity is deluding themselves. We can’t. It will result in the end of the American experiment.

Trump again talked about the border wall, making it sound like it will keep both humans and drugs from entering our country.

Friends, immigrants aren’t the problem – this nation was built on the backs of immigrants. To deny that is to ignore the lessons of history

And, really, drugs aren’t the problem. The fact they are illegal is the problem. If drugs were legal violence associated with drugs stop and drug lords become mere vendors looking to move some product. Legalizing drugs is not going to make society any worse than it is now because people are already doing all the drugs they want. It merely won’t be a crime to use them.

He talked about health care. Good.

Doctors and health insurers must have the same access to the free market that any other business has. Right now they do not, they operate under significant government regulation with the result that healthcare is inaccessible to many and expensive for everyone. When all barriers to the free market are removed, innovation will increase and costs will come down, as they do anytime the government butts out of something.

Friends, we must stay informed and stay involved because if we don’t the status quo will ruin this country. It is up to demanding and concerned citizens like us, you and me – we the people – to hold our leaders accountable and to take charge of our government.

The government we want is as close as the next election, the 2018 midterms in 616 days. I’m ready to hold our leaders accountable. Are you?

Thank you for reading,

Gaylon

 

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The Diary of a Nobody 2/25/17

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Gaylon

Friends, the Diary of a Nobody is taking a few days off…

 

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Being A Good Citizen in 2017

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Gaylon

By Gaylon Kent

No matter what your political affiliation, it is difficult to deny that right now we are living in times that are as momentous as they are tumultuous.

Times in America have often been tumultuous because America has never been perfect. Everyone who is not a white, land-owning, generally Protestant, male has had to fight for every gain, battles that are, of course, still being fought.

But never has this nation been closer to collapse. Our perpetual wars, the fact we are functionally broke and $20 trillion in debt and our bitter social divisions will destroy this country, probably before this half-century is out, if we don’t make substantive changes to the way we are governed.

In his first few weeks in office, President Donald Trump has given no indication he is going to make those changes. Indeed, there is no prospect of peace, our finances will continue to be a nightmare and our national divide is only going to deepen the next four years.

There is every prospect of the continued chaos that has been the hallmark of the first weeks of the Trump Administration. There is zero prospect of making substantive progress the next four years. Instead of grabbing the bull by the horns, America will be marking time.

What can we do? Glad you asked. Listen up:

Step One: We must acknowledge that our country needs us. Leaving our nation in the hands of the status quo will result in the same lousy government we’ve been getting. Only concerned and conscientious citizens like you and me will make America great again.

The status quo will change nothing.

Step Two: Stay informed. We must pay attention to what our government is doing to us. Regardless of the party in power and regardless of your political leanings, there is no substitute for concerned and conscientious citizens staying informed.

Step Three: Take action. Protest. Write your Congressman and Senator. Go to their town hall meetings. If you’re really moved, run for office. That’s how I protest. I don’t like the direction my country is taking and I have solutions to offer, so I’ve run for both the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

More than anything:

Be prepared to be a demanding and participating citizen next year in the 2018 midterm elections.

There is no substitute for demanding and participating citizens hold their leaders accountable. Support something other than the status quo, because the status quo has caused this mess. Fill out your ballot knowing that the government we want, a government that can truly make America great again, is as close as the next election.

Friends, our government, as always, is in our hands. It is not in the hands of the media, the lobbyists or the incumbents, although it might seem that way sometimes. Our government belongs to us, you and me, we the people. All we have to do is stay informed and stay involved.

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The Diary of a Nobody 2/22/17 – Drivel From Sparrow!

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Gaylon
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