The Daily Dose/July 22, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
USA! USA!: The federal government resumed executing prisoners last week, conducting three lethal injections at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. They were the first federal executions since 2003 and executions 4-6 inclusive since such executions were resumed after a 40-year hiatus.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: There is no good reason for this.
Dry, Technical Matter:. Are we any safer because these three men are dead? Of course we’re not. They weren’t in any danger of returning to the streets anymore than we’re in any danger of winning an Olympic sprinting medal.
More Dry, Technical Matter: Are potential murderers shaking in their boots, committed to never murdering because these three men are dead? No, they’re not. Since the last federal executions in 2003, America’s murder rate has dropped from 5.7 per 100,000 people in 2003 to 5.0 per 100,000 in 2018. Of course, some states continue to carry out executions, but these numbers have gone down as well from 64 in 2003 to 22 last year.
I’ll Take Dry, Technical Matter for $500, Alex: Fewer executions have equaled fewer murders: despite what some will try to tell you, the death penalty has no deterrant value.
Please Pass The Dry Technical Matter: One of those executed last week acted alone. The other two, however had accomplices who are not under sentence of death, meaning two people died for their crimes while two others convicted of exactly the same thing were given life without parole.
The Bottom Line: This nation has executed innocent people and the death penalty should be abolished for that reason alone. Innocence does not appear to have been an issue in these three cases, however we are not any safer because they are dead, their deaths will have no deterrent value and others convicted of the same crime did not receive the same penalty. These, too, are good reasons for abolishing the death penalty.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has the latest from the gym and the news from his walk.
I am back to full strength on two exercises in the gym: the cable shoulder press and leg extensions…I am pretty darn close on the z-bar bicep curls and the tricep cable pulldowns, though I still have a ways to go on the bench press.
I did the short workout so I could get my walk in before dark…I had half a mind to do the Fairgrounds Route, but I wanted to see what was shaking at the new restaurant so I did the standard out-to-the-post-office-and-back route…Turns out they were open for dinner tonight and there were diners both inside and outside and they looked moderately busy and I’m thinking about stopping by for dinner tomorrow, but the old joint was closed on Wednesday and they might be, too.
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo: The difference between Asian and Central European women.
This reminds of another Asian phenomenon. There are a lot of Asian dealers at Monte Carlo and the women usually sit together in the EDR. There is this one cadre and they all appear to be speaking the same language even though none of them appear to be the same race. Well, two are Chinese, but another is Japanese and another is, I think, Thai. (Oh, baby, this woman is gorgeous. Tall and statuesque. Hubba-hubba.)
Anyway, these women prattle constantly. I wish I could understand because they are always laughing (unlike their Ukrainian and Bulgarian counterparts, who are usually very serious about matters) and I am wondering what language they are using because unless I am missing something there isn’t a common Asian language.
$2.99 – a steal – is all access to these two American classics cost. This offer won’t last forever, so click on the button today.
On This Date
History’s long march to today.
In 1937 – The United States Senate votes down an attempt by President Franklin Roosevelt to increase the number of Supreme Court justices. The act came about because Roosevelt was peeved the Supreme Court kept declaring aspects of his New Deal unconstitutional and would have allowed him to appoint one justice for every one over the age of 70 years and 6 months. The last time the number of Supreme Court justices was changed had been in 1869 when the number was set at nine. The actual action by the Senate was to send the bill back to committee, which ultimately produced a different bill.
In 1967 – The Atlanta Braves establish a new major league record for most pitchers used in an inning in a 5-4, 13-inning win over the St Louis Cardinals. The Braves used five pitchers in the ninth inning as the Cardinals got three runs to tie the game. The record is now six, done twice, by the Oakland A’s in 1983 and the Seattle Mariners in 2007, though five remains the National League mark, tied many times. Research into whose record the Braves broke was inconclusive.
In 1967 – David Houston is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – for the only week with With One Exception. Houston was a prolific artist, putting 62 songs on the country chart Between 1966 and 1989, including seven #1 songs and 24 Top 10 hits. Houston’s first #1 song, Almost Persuaded in 1966, spent nine weeks at #1, a mark no other song matched until Taylor Swift spent ten weeks at #1 in 2012 with We Are Never, Ever, Getting Back Together. Houston was 57 when he died of a brain aneurysm in 1993.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
A proverb is no proverb to you until your life has illustrated it. – John Keats
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The highest temperature ever recorded at the South Pole is plus-9.9 degree Farenheit on 12/25/2011.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
How many members did the US Supreme Court have when it first convened in 1790? – Answer next time!
