The Daily Dose/February 4, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: Jamal Khashoggi is still dead.
The latest into the “investigations” into the October murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul isn’t much.
United States Senator Lindsey Graham continues to get his shorts in a knot over this, and the UN has announced a hot, new commission to investigate and Turkey, the murder’s host nation, is accusing some western countries of trying to stonewall its investigation. Our favorite line came from Swiss President Ueli Maurer, who all but fellated the Saudi delegation at a recent economic forum his nation hosted:
We have long since dealt with the Khashoggi case.
Have you now? How, by ignoring it? Because that is the only real way to deal with it without an actual trial and conviction. This gives you something in common with America, who, with the exception of some in Congress who want to produce sanctions, is remaining silent, and complicit, in the matter.
We said it at the time: the Saudis were going brazen their way through this, something they’ve done admirably. Sure, there are some malcontents that bring this up from time to time, but for all intents and purposes, Saudi Arabia is back in business. They may not even be obliged to produce some lower level prince to behead because nobody really seems to care anymore.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: It’s a slow morning at the hotel, though Sparrow does move some product from the sundry stand, and The Wife brings home a new cover for the ironing board. Today’s Diary.
We had gotten the new cover over the ironing board when we discovered some straps on the bottom…First, we saw two in the middle, one with a button on it and the other with a buttonhole…All right, even ol’ Sparrow can take that hint and with some effort, I was able to secure the straps together…Then we discovered two more on the back end, the only problem being both had buttonholes…Well, heck…We thought for a bit they were meant to attach to the button on the middle strap, but then The Wife discovered one more strap on the front end that had a button…These were a bit tougher to secure, leading to some modest whining from yours truly:
“Heaven forbid they use some exciting 20th-century fastener like Velcro…Let’s stick with the 18th-century button.”
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On This Date
In 1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States, a position he would hold for 34 years, a record that still stands. Under his leadership the Supreme Court went from a relatively minor part of the government to a co-equal branch, putting the standards established in the Constitution into practical effect through judicial review. Marshall was also responsible for starting the practice of the court issuing a single opinion, instead of each justice writing their own, and for ending the tradition of justices wearing powdered wigs and red robes.
In 1932 – The first Winter Olympics in the United States open in Lake Placid, New York. 252 athletes, all but 21 of them men, compete in 14 events in four sports. The United States wins the most gold medals (6) and overall medals (12), followed in each category by Norway. The number of countries was down from the 1928 Winter Games in St Mortiz, Switzerland as eight nations, including Mexico of all people, did not send athletes to Lake Placid. It was the second Olympics in the US following the 1904 St Louis Summer Games and Lake Placid would hold the Winter Games again in 1980.
In 1989 – Sheriff, a group that had broken up several years earlier, is at #1 for the only time when When I’m With You is at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song was originally released in 1983 and went #8 in their native Canada and #64 in the US and in 1989 two Midwest stations started playing it. When I’m With You was written by the group’s keyboardist as a Valentine’s present for his future wife. The song spent one week at #1 and remains one of the few songs in the Rock Era to hit #1 in a second chart run.
Quotebook
For Confucius, true wisdom is to know the extent of what you don’t know quite as well as you know what you do know.
Gore Vidal
Creation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Elton John has had eight #1 songs on the British chart.
Today’s Stumper
What event(s) did Team Mexico participate in at the 1928 Winter Olympics? –Answer next time!
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