The Daily Dose/June 25, 2024
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT: Australian writer and editor Julian Assange will be free on Wednesday after reaching a plea deal with US attorneys. In exchange for being sentenced to time served, he will plead guilty to one charge of espionage.
A Long Time Coming: Assange had been in custody in England since 2019, fighting extradition to the US for disclosing assorted confidential elements concerning US conduct in the Iraq and Afghani wars in 2010. Before that, he had been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London since 2012.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: Assange was a journalist doing his work. He should never have been imprisoned in the first place.
Gaylon For Congress…Vote Early, Vote Often: Recall that in February we attended a rally in Denver in support of Assange. We strongly suspect, though, that this had nothing, or at least very little, to do with this week’s announcement.
Dry, Technical Matter: On Wednesday, Assange will appear in US district court in the Northern Marianas Islands, a location picked because it is the closest US court to Australia, where Assange will end up. It is reported Assange wasn’t entirely thrilled with the prospect of being transported to the continental US.
Please Pass The Dry, Technical Matter: The Northern Marianas Islands are in the South Pacific Ocean, about 1,300 miles south of Japan and about 1,600 miles east of the Philippines. They became a US commonwealth, at their request, in the 1970s and were a UN protectorate before that.
The Bottom Line: Assange did nothing wrong and has nothing to plead guilty for, but any husband – or, as likely as not, ex-husband – knows that sometimes you plead guilty in the interest of domestic tranquility. Do you want to be happy or right? Assange decided to be happy instead of imprisoned. Perhaps a sympathetic Biden Administration will pardon him.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow deals with a dumb question. Today’s Diary.
Well, word had obviously reached wherever the hell she’s from that ol’ Sparrow has expanded his already broad range of front desk services to include Virus Identification (VI)…
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 1960 – Two cryptographers with the National Security Agency – William Martin and Bernon Mitchell – leave on vacation to Mexico, where in September they would defect to the Soviet Union. The pair had grown disillusioned with assorted US activities, including NSA-sponsored flights that intruded on foreign airspace. Both married Russian women and later tried and failed to return to the US, with Martin later dying in Mexico and Mitchell in Russia.
In 1903 – Wiley Piatt of the Boston Beaneaters establishes the modern major league record for most complete game losses in one day in 1-0 and 5-3 defeats to the St Louis Cardinals. Piatt struck out twelve and walked three over his 18 innings and his record fell to 6-13 on the season. Research into the number of times this feat had been accomplished in the 19th century was maddeningly inconclusive. The record stills stands.
In 1983 – Flashdance: Original Soundtrack From the Motion Picture by various artists is at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart for the first of two consecutive weeks. The album went to #1 in eight other countries including Norway and Japan, peaked at #9 in Great Britain, and was Billboard’s 20th-biggest album of 1983 and its 32nd biggest of 1984. The album produced three chart singles, including the number ones Flashdance…What A Feeling by Irene Cara – then in its fifth of six weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 – and Maniac by Michael Sembello.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
I can’t bite my tongue because my soul will bleed.
Cyril Neville
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
The Los Angeles Kings are the lowest seed to win the Stanley Cup. They were a #8 seed in 2012.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
Who was the last major leaguer to win two complete games in a doubleheader? – Answer next time!
