The Daily Dose/March 17, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: Jamal Khashoggi is still dead.
Though the modern, never-ending news cycle disdains follow-up reporting, it is useful to keep up on the developments in old stories.
Or lack of developments as the case may be, such as in the affair of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, you may recall, was a Saudi writer who lived in America and had had the nerve to be critical of the Saudi government. He was killed by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.
Al-Jazeera reported this week that a Saudi spokesman said “those on trial” for Khashoggi’s murder have had three hearings so far, but offered no details on anything whatsoever. In late 2018 the Saudis had said eleven people had been indicted and held over for trial but no further information has been made available. Most of the US government and, therefore, most of the US media, long ago lost interest in the case.
The only other real development came earlier this month when 36 nations – none of them the United States – signed a statement condemning Saudi Arabia’s human rights record and urging them to cooperate with a UN-led investigation into Khashoggi’s murder.
Good luck with that. A similar declaration by your local elementary school’s second-grade class would have had the same effect. Eventually, perhaps, some hapless low-level prince may be offered up in sacrifice, but to expect there to ever be a substantive investigation into Khashoggi’s murder is folly.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: It’s a dead sprint for Sparrow at the hotel, including a family that offers some attitude when Sparrow cannot the provide the exact accommodations they demand at 4 in the morning.
I’ve run into this before, someone who’s mad at you because you are unable to immediately solve their problem as if it’s my fault they drove in from the Arctic Circle on the spur of the moment and can’t find suitable accommodations…They leave to look for something else, but come back an hour later, paying good money for a room for five hours.
Click here to follow Sparrow – an average man passing an average life.
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Criminals, Courtesans, and Constables: Friends, my latest novel Criminals, Courtesans, and Constables is now available for $3.99, a price that goes up to $5.99 on the official release date of April 1.
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On This Date
In 1959 – The Dali Lama, and others, flee Lhasa, Tibet in the face of occupation by the Chinese. The Dalai Lama, then 19, and his group would reach India on March 30 and would later set up a government in exile. The Dalia Lama still lives in exile in India and has not returned to his homeland since.
In 1953 – The Boston Braves, a member of the National League since its founding in 1876, play their final game, a spring training affair in Florida. In the middle of their game the following day it was announced the National League had approved their application to move to Milwaukee, where they played for 13 seasons before moving to Atlanta for the 1966 season.
In 1979 – Gloria Gaynor is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the second of three non-consecutive weeks with I Will Survive. The song also went to #1 in Great Britain, Ireland and Canada, was Billboard’s sixth biggest hit of 1979, Gaynor’s second and final Top 40 hit and remains her only #1 song. I Will Survive would spend the following two weeks in the runner-up spot before returning to #1 on April 7
Quotebook
Both Gettysburg and the second inaugural address were forged by advice to himself and his country to study what had happened for helpful lessons rather than retribution.
Fred Kaplan
Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland are the cities that have been in the American League continuously since 1900.
Today’s Stumper
How far back does the Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, trace his lineage? – Answer next time!
