News for Week Ending Friday, Aug 31, 2018

1.   California Congressman Duncan Hunter, who has been accused of misusing campaign funds, is claiming that he had let his wife handle all the finances.   ***    People everywhere found his story hard to believe until he explained that in return she lets him have the TV remote.

2.   A lot of Brits are complaining that 5 year old Prince George was brought along on a family grouse hunt.  ***  Of course, royal family grouse hunts are something special, and it’s always exciting to see the firepower of the Royal Air Force.

3.   The Statue of Liberty was evacuated earlier this week because of a fire scare.   ***  Afterwards, officials tried to calm frightened tourists by explaining, “Look, it’s not a real torch.” 

4.   Former Spice Girl singer Mel B checked herself into a rehab facility to deal with alcohol and sex addiction.   ***   She was dropped off by a really happy Uber driver.

5.   With many pilots nearing retirement age, airlines are aggressively recruiting replacements.   ***   I wouldn’t say they’re relaxing their standards, but a few people in the job fair lines had white canes.

6.   On this date in history:  Aug 31, 1971 – Astronaut Dave Scott becomes the first person to drive a car on the Moon.  ***  And he became the only driver to ever encounter potholes worse than Michigan’s.

7.   On this date in history:  Aug 30, 1963 – The “Hot line” communications link between the White House and the Kremlin begins operation.  ***   So far, President Trump has only used it on Valentine’s Day.

8.   On this date in history:  Aug 29, 1854 – Daniel Halladay patents the first “self-governing windmill.”   ***   Don’t get that confused with the first politician, who was a “self-governing windbag.”  

9.   On this date in history:  Aug 28, 1983 – Joseph Kreckman sets a record of shooting 2,215 clay pigeons in one hour.  ***  And he never even took them out of the box.

10.  On this date in history:  Aug 27, 1945 – Thirteen days after the Japanese announced their surrender, U.S. troops land in Japan.   ***  The relieved Japanese said, “NOW can we put our hands down?”