The Daily Dose/January 25, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: The State of Our Union
The annual State of the Union address is the latest casualty of our government’s shutdown. President Trump was willing to give the address as scheduled next Tuesday, but Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, appropriately, if you ask us, has declined to issue the requisite invitation to the president to address a joint session of Congress. For his part, President Trump –President Trump! – has accepted this, but only after some blustering about how he would deliver the State of the Union address from somewhere else.
He couldn’t really do this, of course. Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution is very clear on the matter, stating, in part, that the president:
…shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union…
He can’t do that from a truck stop. He has to do it either in person or, as used to be the norm, in writing.
This is of no particular consequence anyway: we do not need a presidential address to tell us the state of the American union is a complete, utter and humiliating mess. You know it, I know it and the president and Congress know it, too. The president is being his usual petulant self, while Congress, sensing blood, is battening down the hatches while you and me, the American electorate, instead of protesting this dysfunction, are now accepting this nonsense as the norm.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: There is more snow to move at The Shire, including Sparrow removing snow from the carport’s roof, while Jerry reports he isn’t getting a whole lot of action on his house.
Afterward, I asked Jerry about his house and he shook his head and violated the Second Commandment by using the name of God’s only begotten Son in a manner inconsistent with praise, saying he’s only had one offer on the house and it was for 299, less than the 325 he’ asking and apparently holding firm at, because he turned that offer down…
Subscriptions are required to read The Diary of a Nobody, The Bottom Ten and our pretty funny books.
Click here to subscribe. Reasonable rates.
On This Date
In 1937 – The first of 18,262 episodes of The Guiding Light debuts on NBC Radio. The show was actually canceled twice by NBC, in 1939 and 1946, brought back by popular demand each time. The show moved to CBS Radio in 1947 and to CBS Television in 1952 and its 72 years on the air makes it the longest-running soap opera ever and the fifth-longest show in broadcasting history.
In 1924 – The first Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, France. The Games were organized by the French as part the Summer Games later held in Paris and featured 258 athletes from 16 nations participating in 16 events. Previously winter sports like hockey and figure skating had been held at the Summer Games, which resulted in the only instance of Summer Olympic titles being defended at a Winter Games. France finished with three bronze medals, marking the first a host nation did not win a gold medal.
In 1969 – I Heard It Through the Grapevine Marvin Gaye is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the seventh and final week. The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and had earlier been a #2 hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips. The song was the first of three #1s on the Hot 100 for Gaye and I Heard It Through The Grapevine was also in its seventh and final week at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart, his fifth of 13 #1s on the soul chart.
Quotebook
One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been.
Sophocles
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Ted Bundy’s last meal was steak, eggs and hash browns, the standard last meal then served by Florida to condemned who decline to specify anything else. Reports from the era indicate Bundy didn’t eat his final meal.
Today’s Stumper
On what other occasions did a host nation not win a gold medal in the Olympics? –Answer next time!
Let’s Be Friends: follow me on Facebook.
