SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

IT SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY – FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:   Betty Grissom, the widow of the astronaut Virgil Grissom, whose death in a launchpad fire in 1967 led her to sue a NASA contractor, died on Saturday at her home in Houston. She was 91.  Her son Mark confirmed the death. He said neighbors had noticed that Ms. Grissom had picked up her morning newspaper but not her afternoon mail and went to check on her. She had died while sorting the laundry, he said, and the cause of death was not known.  Virgil Grissom, known as Gus, one of the seven original Mercury astronauts immortalized by Tom Wolfe in his book “The Right Stuff,” was the second American in space, after Alan Shepard. He was also the command pilot of Apollo 1, which was intended to test the Apollo capsule for flights to the moon.But during a routine test at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an electrical fire swept through the command module, killing all three astronauts aboard — Mr. Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee.  It was the first fatal accident in the history of the United States space program. Mr. Grissom was 40.  I remember when the space program symbolized America.  Every launch was watched by tens of millions.  Maybe we can get that spirit back.

MIRACLE IN TENNESSEE – In the hot Tennessee Senate race, a New York Times/Siena poll published hours ago shows Republican Marsha Blackburn opening up a 14-point lead over Democrat Phil Bredesen.  This is larger than previous leads, and we always caution that polls are a flash in time, but it shows the trend in the race.  Bredesen's cause wasn't helped when staff members were caught on tape admitting that the candidate's claim that he was pro-Kavanaugh was a fake.   The candidates are contesting a Republican seat held by the retiring Bob Corker.  We will welcome Marsha Blackburn to the US Senate.

THE SHOE IS ON THE OTHER FOOT – FROM COLLEGE FIX:  Professor C. Christine Fair is no stranger to attention-grabbing headlines. She told a Trump-supporting colleague to “go to hell” and called German police officers “German Nazi police.”  Most recently, she was placed on research leave after posting a controversial tweet that called for the “miserable deaths” and castrations of Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Afterward, she claimed the tweet was an “experiment.”  Now Georgetown University may have to answer for her to the Department of Education.  Last week the National Coalition for Men filed a Title IX complaint against Georgetown that included Fair’s conduct and requested that Georgetown fire her.  Fair blasted the complaint in an email to The College Fix. She called it “politically-motivated rubbish initiated by persons who have on [sic] familiarity with me or my students. It is, in short, a stunt.”  NCFM was already contemplating a complaint against Georgetown but Fair’s tweet was “the catalyst,” President Harry Crouch told The Fix in an email.   We'll follow this.  Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has done a fine job in cleaning up the Title IX office (Office of Civil Rights) in the Department of Education.   We hope the newly reformed office takes this complaint seriously.

October 11, 2018