Eight Dead in Houston, Vegemite Misery

Nation: Houston authorities found eight people … five children and three adults … dead inside a home after a standoff and a brief gunfight with a man inside the house. Police had been called to do a welfare check at the house when they were confronted by a man with a gun. The gunman eventually surrendered.

It’s been a weekend of mass killings. In Vermont a 40-year-old woman is the suspect in the killing of a social worker, an aunt, and two cousins. Judy Herring is accused of killing the social worker who handled the case in which Herring lost custody of her 9-year-old daughter.

Black Lives: The FBI has entered the investigation after the shooting of an unarmed black college football player by a rookie police officer still on field training in Arlington, Texas early Friday. The police were called to a car dealership and found that Christian Taylor, 19, had driven his car through the front window. Taylor was shot after a brief confrontation.

In Ferguson, Mo., about 200 demonstrators last night marked the one-year anniversary of the shooting of 19-year-old Michael Brown that caused rioting last year. Someone placed the roasted head of a pig on a barricade but the protest was generally peaceful. Last month a black man was appointed interim police chief in Ferguson, but the department still has few black officers on the street.

Trumped: Other candidates have been quick to condemn Donald Trump, the crazy uncle in the Republican attic, after his attack on Fox News host Megyn Kelly. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told CNN, “Megyn Kelly was a colleague of mine for six and a half years when I was at Fox. She is one of the most remarkable people I know.”

Former Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina, the only woman running for the Republican nomination, tweeted, “Mr. Trump: There. Is. No. Excuse.” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said in a statement that “As a party, we are better to risk losing without Donald Trump than trying to win with him.”

Trump’s political advisor Roger Stone left the campaign yesterday. Trump says he fired Stone and Stone says he fired Trump. Stone had been trying to keep Trump on his political message and avoid diversions. The crazy uncle prevailed.

Laps: American swimmer Katie Ledecky established one world record and swept four major freestyle distance events at the World Championships in Russia, positioning her as one of the greatest swimmers ever. The 18-year-old Ledecky won the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500-meter freestyle races, setting a world record in the 800. She became the first woman ever to break the mark of 8:10 in the 800m freestyle with a winning time of 8:07.39.

Hard Knocks: Junior Seau, the brutal linebacker who played 20 years in the NFL only to commit suicide in despair over brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head, was inducted yesterday into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Seau was honored for his stellar career, but outside football he’s better known for committing suicide and the condition that led him to it. He had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease caused by concussions. His case was one of the most prominent in forcing the NFL to pay attention to head injuries.

Down Under: The Australian government says sales of the popular Vegemite sandwich spread should be limited in some remote areas of the country because it is used to make moonshine. Vegemite contains brewer’s yeast. The country’s Indigenous Affairs Minister described the salty spread as a “precursor to misery”. Yes. And the misery hits when you eat some of it.

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Thursday, May 2, 2024

Page Two

The Most Corrupt Justice

Monday, October 2, 2023

Democracy and Video in the Dark

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Page Two: Do the Right Thing

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Page Two: Sound Recall

Monday, September 13, 2021

Page Two: Cuomo Must Go

Friday, August 13, 2021

Trump and the Truth

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

The “Great” President

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Wright Stuff

Saturday, February 29, 2020

It's Been Said

"In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have, no excuses."

-Andrew Cuomo, resigning as governor of New York after accusations of sexual harassment

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