The Daily Dose/December 20, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience…
USA! USA!: Lost in the impeachment cacophony is the anniversary of America’s invasion of Panama 30 years ago today. America has been at war every day since. That’s 30 years of non-stop violence; three decades without a day of peace.
Dry, Technical Matter: The invasion lasted a bit more than five weeks and resulted in the capture of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. He was convicted of assorted crimes in the United States, then later sent to France, who convicted him of money laundering, before being sent back to Panama, where he died in 2017. The invasion was a complete success because since deposing Noriega all drug use in the United States has ceased.
Back On Message: The consequences of 30 years of continuous warfare cannot be exaggerated; they are as wide as they are devastating.
Leading Off: First, we have a violent world, because the only dividend violent US intervention produces is more violent US intervention. You can’t argue with this. War does not produce peace. If it did, it would have done so by now. But it doesn’t. War only produces more war.
And In This Corner: It has also produced a violent America, an America that is a veritable shooting gallery right now.
Consider This: Do peaceful governments produce violent citizens? Of course, they don’t. Peaceful nations by and large have peaceful citizens. Americans are violent because we don’t know any better: rancor and violence are America’s go-to reaction to everything now. Three decades of continuous warfare have given us an entire generation of Americans, plus their offspring, that have never known a peaceful day in their lives.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: Anybody who tries to tell you America can survive at, much less flourish in, perpetual war is either deluding themselves, trying to delude you or, as likely as not, both. We can’t. No nation has survived perpetual war and America will not be the exception to that. Eventually, it will destroy our country, perhaps before this half-century is out.
This Is More Daily Dose Policy, Isn’t It?: The time has come to see the world produced by an America at peace. Nobody is going to give it to us, though. We must demand it at the ballot box on Election Day. We must have the courage to shed the status quo and demand the government we deserve.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow is the first customer at the new conveniences store in his small town. Today’s Diary.
There are still four minutes to go, but I’m warm enough and then everyone else gets out and a line starts forming…Bully for them…They are all safely behind me and they can fight it out for second customer honors, about as memorable as being Henry VII or part of Apollo 12, nice, but who gives a rat’s ass…Then I start rethinking my strategy of filling the travel mug…The coffee station is in the left corner – relative to the front door – and what if someone gets something closer, and quicker, to the checker???…I’m screwed…So I go tactical, spot the donuts and muffin case, and decide to get something from there…It’s ten feet from the checker…I scope out the others in line, decide none of them are fit enuff to get to a checker before me.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
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On This Date
In 1968 – Two teenagers, David Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16, are shot to death in Benicia, California, a bit northeast of San Francisco, the first confirmed victims of a killer History refers to as the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac Killer would attack at least five more people through October 1969, two of whom survived. The killer wrote letters to Bay Area newspapers and police and later claimed to have killed 37 people. Though police had a variety of suspects, no one was ever charged and the case is closed in some jurisdictions while remaining open in others.
In 1985 – Denis Potvin of the New York Islanders establishes a new NHL record for career points by a defenseman in a 2-2 tie against the New York Rangers. Potvin’s assist on a first-period goal by Mike Bossy gave him 916 career points, breaking the record established by Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Black Hawks. Potvin would retire after the 1998 season with 1,052 points, a mark now good for seventh on the all-time list, and the record is now held by Ray Bourque, who had 1,579 points between 1979 and 2001. Orr’s mark is now eleventh on the all-time list.
In 1969 – Peter, Paul & Mary are at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for their only week with Leaving on a Jet Plane. The song also went to #1 in Canada and peaked at #2 in Great Britain. It was the sixth Top 10 hit for the group, their first #1 song and their final chart appearance. The song was written by John Denver.
Quotebook
You have to believe. You have to play brave. – Martin Kaymer, professional golfer
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
There were eight bowl games following the 1964 college football season: Rose, Orange, Sugar, Cotton, Liberty, Sun, Bluebonnet and Gator.
Today’s Stumper
Who holds the all-time NHL record for most shorthanded goals by a defenseman? – Answer next time!
