SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

STATE OF OUR CULTURE – FROM FOX:   The posthumous pillorying of the dead – or the "revenge obituary" – is part of a growing trend that has family members digging up dirt on the deceased and getting the final word.The latest is a local newspaper obituary for Kathleen Dehmlow, who passed away last week at a nursing home in Springfield, Minn., and could barely have hit any harder.“She passed away on May 31, 2018, in Springfield and will now face judgment. She will not be missed by [her children] Gina and Jay, and they understand that this world is a better place without her.”  Not the most touching words of remembrance for the 80-year-old who once became pregnant by her brother-in-law and "abandoned her children," according to the now-viral obituary, which was picked up by everyone from London tabloids to a slew of buzzy social media sites.   From the somewhat humorous -- Michael “Flathead” Blanchard “enjoyed booze, guns, cars and younger women until the day he died” – to the more morose, the obituary column has become for some a place where furious family members can finally settle their scores with the departed.  Imagine what historians 500 years from now will think.  I don't doubt that some of the subjects deserve what they're getting, but they can't fight back, and that ain't fair.

LIFE ON MARS? – FROM USA TODAY:  The "building blocks" for life have been discovered in 3-billion-year-old organic matter on Mars, NASA scientists announced Thursday.  Researchers cannot yet say whether their discovery stems from life or a more mundane geological process.  However, “we’re in a really good position to move forward looking for signs of life,"  said Jennifer Eigenbrode, a NASA biogeochemist and lead author of a study published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal Science.   The findings were also remarkable in that they showed that organic material can be preserved for billions of years on the harsh Martian surface.   The material was discovered by the Mars Curiosity rover, which has been collecting data on the Red Planet since August 2012. The organic molecules were found in Gale Crater — believed to once contain a shallow lake the size of Florida's Lake Okeechobee.  Maybe if the liberals lose the midterms they can go to Mars and link up with past, outdated civilizations.  Wait, they're already doing that here.   

CALIFORNIA CHURNIN' – FROM FOX:   California Democrats have been denied their supermajority in the state Senate, in a key vote that means Senate Democrats won't hold the two-thirds majority needed to pass tax and fee increases.  Democrats temporarily lost their supermajority in February when a lawmaker accused of sexual misconduct resigned.  They likely would have gotten it back in a special election in August. But then they lost another seat on Tuesday, when voters in an Orange County district recalled Democratic Sen. Josh Newman from office over his vote to raise gas taxes last year.  Former Republican Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang won the seat.  There's a great deal of tumult in California politics, more than had been anticipated.  The state has for years been seen as solidly blue, despite the pseudo-Republican governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger.   Now there are rumblings, especially involving the unpopularity of sanctuary cities, that have the potential to challenge conventional assumptions.

June 7, 2018