The Daily Dose/May 1, 2024
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
BE TRUE TO YOUR SCHOOL: It’s good to see today’s student protestors carrying the torch started by their predecessors at college campuses across America. If the kids don’t care about our country, America might as well close up shop. There are atrocities on both sides of the Israel/Hamas War, and protests of both the war and US participation in it is deserved.
Back To The Future: The authoritarian response to these protests shows that college presidents and the authorities have learned nothing from the past because, one, violence isn’t going to solve anything because violence begets violence. Two, arresting protestors merely plays right into their hands because what do protestors want more than anything? Attention to their cause, which arrests and confrontations give them in spades.
Dry, Technical Matter: Consider this: Did you know about the protests at UCLA before waking up this morning and hearing about the police crackdown? Probably not because protesters at UCLA and other UC campuses had been allowed to protest peacefully, and peaceful protests tend not to be particularly interesting or newsworthy.
More Dry, Technical Matter: Anti-Israel protestors here are generally labeled as anti-Semitic. This is too bad because it is possible to disagree with Israel and generally support their right to exist. It is possible to condemn their share of the atrocities in their war with Hamas without wishing every Jew was sent to a gas chamber. That’s not the way it works in America right now, though.
The Bottom Line: The US – both citizens and government – is a fractured, partisan, and bickering mess now. You’re either for me or against me and everyone is circling their own personal wagons. We deserve better than this, of course, but we’re not demanding it. America is demanding very little of herself right now and is getting very little in return.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow asks an African man to pass a message to a Turkish woman. Today’s Diary.
This was fraught with peril, tho, because the longest of longtime readers of this crap may – or they may not – recall that Mic is from west Africa and English is far from his native language…
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 1328 – The First War of Scottish Independence comes to an end when England and Scotland sign the Treaty of Edinburgh and Northampton. The war had begun in 1296 when England invaded Scotland and the Scots came close to losing before rallying and nearly capturing Edward II of England. The English were so intent on Scottish independence that a second Scottish War of Independence was fought from 1332-57, with England again ensuring further Scottish independence.
In 1884 – Moses Walker of the Toledo Blue Sox of the American Association becomes the first Black to play in a major league game in a 5-1 loss to the Louisville Eclipse. Walker went 0-for-3 and committed four errors in the game and for the season batted .263 and scored 23 runs in 43 games. Later in the season, Moses’ brother Welday would become the second Black to play major league baseball, appearing in five games for the Blue Sox. Both were released after the season.
In 1962 – Del Shannon is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the second of four consecutive weeks with Runaway. It was the first of nine Top 40 hits for Shannon, his first of three Top 10 songs, and remains his only #1. The song went to #1 in five other countries, including Chile and Great Britain, peaked at #3 on Billboard’s soul chart, and was their 5th-biggest song of the year. Shannon was born Charles Westover in Michigan in 1934 and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1990.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
…what is so absurd as the male’s pursuit of the female, his feverish idealization of her flesh, his goatish passion for copulation?
Will Durant
The Story of Civilization, Vol VII: The Reformation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Napoleon Bonaparte was the French leader who authorized the sale of the Louisiana Territory to the United States.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
How many major leagues were there in 1884? – Answer next time!
