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

THE MARCH OF SCHOLARSHIP – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   A Florida high school principal who had teachers do his son’s math homework, pressured teachers to alter grades, and charged students money to attend school-hours functions, has been allowed to maintain employment within his district.  An investigation also determined that Lake Worth High School’s George Lockhart had submitted phony reports which concealed the in-school “fundraising” efforts, and at times did not submit any official reports regarding student suspensions.   He has been demoted, but the fact that he's been kept employed by the school district is troubling.  Aren't there better people to hire to guide our kids?

GOOD LUCK – FROM FOX:  Ulysha Renee Hall will make history in Dallas in September, when she becomes the Texas city’s first female police chief.  Hall, 46, currently deputy chief of the Detroit Police Department, was selected from a field of seven finalists that included another woman, Deputy Chief Carmen Best of Seattle.  Hall followed in her father’s footsteps by choosing a career in law enforcement. He was killed in the line of duty when she was just 6 months old.  Now, Hall will head a Dallas force that’s still coping with the tragedy of July 7, 2016, when a sniper killed five city officers and wounded nine others, as well as two civilians.  We wish her well.  We want her to be superb.  But I still get the uneasy feeling that many law-enforcement posts are being filled by tokens, no matter how qualified, in order to appease segments of the community.  It's unfair to the city, and unfair to the candidate.  But let us hope that this new appointee gives Dallas a new start.

MORE O.J. INSANITY – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  The four-person Nevada parole board that granted O.J. Simpson’s release from prison on Thursday snapped a selfie before the hearing.  “The 4 board members right before the hearing,” board member Adam Endel wrote in a Facebook post with the photo of the smiling board members.  Endel also had the Twitterverse abuzz with talk of the red-and-gold striped Chiefs tie he wore during the parole hearing.  Who cares about those people who were murdered?  Yesterday's news.

July 22,  2017