💬 Quoted: “Responsibility for such a decision should rest with me.”

• US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has put the death penalty back on the table for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (☝️ right), the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks, and two of his alleged accomplices. On Friday, Secretary Austin unilaterally rejected a plea deal agreed to earlier in the week by US military prosecutors, which would’ve seen the three defendants plead guilty to all 9/11-related charges and waive their right to appeal in exchange for avoiding the death penalty with lifelong prison sentences. When the plea deal was first announced last Wednesday, military prosecutors said it was the best – and perhaps only – way to resolve the 13-year-long case, since allegations that US officials previously tortured the three defendants means the death penalty is likely off the table in court. Two days later, Secretary Austin issued a terse memo overturning the plea deal without further elaboration, with his decision following backlash against the plea deal from some congressional lawmakers (mostly Republicans), as well as the families of some 9/11 victims.

⚾💨 Stat of the Day: Move over, Derek Zoolander – there’s a new gas-thrower in town. On Saturday night, rookie pitcher Ben Joyce of the Los Angeles Angels notched his first career save by striking out slugger JD Martinez with a fastball clocked at 104.7 MPH, marking the fastest strikeout pitch since the MLB began tracking such data in 2008. Joyce’s new record is the latest example of a growing trend: since 2007, the average MLB four-seam fastball has increased from 91 MPH to 94 MPH, while the number of pitches reaching 100+ MPH has quadrupled.

🤔 Did You Know? There were ~8,000 different kinds of currency used in the US from its inception to the Civil War, since banks would issue their own money rather than the federal government. It wasn’t until the National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 that America adopted the federally backed dollar.

📰 Worth a Read: Alcohol, Arrests, and Acrimony: The Troubled Legacy of America’s Chicken Dynasty → (WSJ)