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

THE NERVE! – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Ron Clarke, 51, regularly positions himself in front of Union Market, the snooty Park Slope grocery spot that a local realtor nicknamed “Millionaire Market.” The discerning Clarke, often seen holding a cup full of coins at the chain’s Seventh Avenue outpost, would not disagree.  Last Tuesday morning, shortly after blowing part of a previous day’s proceeds on a pair of lottery tickets (“I buy them once in a blue moon,” Clarke insisted), he told The Post, “By standing in front of Union Market, I get nice groceries.”  Clarke may rely on the kindness of strangers for sustenance, but he won’t take everything he is given — even if it’s high-quality fare from the ritzy store.  On a recent Sunday morning, a woman bought him an egg-salad sandwich. He sent her back inside to exchange it for tuna salad, and she complied without question.  “I do not eat the yellow of the egg; it does not agree with me,” Clarke said, sitting atop the blue milk crate that he keeps stashed in front of the building next door. “I like the white of the egg.”  Geez!  King of the panhandlers.  Well, at least the man has standards.

REAL ESTATE AVAILABLE – FROM FOX:  In a stunning scientific discovery, researchers have found water clouds inside Jupiter's Great Red Spot, raising the prospect that life may exist on the planet.  Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a storm that has been continuously observed since 1830, still remains a mystery to NASA and much of the scientific community, but the discovery of water clouds may lead to a greater understanding of the planet, its atmosphere and whether it ever held life, Clemson University astrophysicist Máté Ádámkovics said.  “Water may play a critical role in Jupiter’s dynamic weather patterns, so this will help advance our understanding of what makes the planet’s atmosphere so turbulent," Ádámkovics said in a statement.  Robert Mueller has announced that he's already looking for Trump associates up there.  He's prepared to travel.

REMINDER OF THE REAL WORLD – FROM AP:  An Afghan suspect in a Friday stabbing attack in Amsterdam had a “terrorist motive,” authorities said Saturday.  The US ambassador to the Netherlands said the two people wounded in the knife attack at the Dutch capital’s busy main railway station were both American citizens who were visiting the country.  Police shot and wounded a 19-year-old Afghan man immediately after the attack and were questioning him.  A dramatic photo captured by a passerby shows two police officers pointing their pistols at a man wearing jeans and sneakers lying on the ground inside a tunnel in the station.  Ambassador Pete Hoekstra issued a written statement saying embassy officials had been in touch with the victims or their families. Police said they had serious but not life-threatening injuries.  We await details, but the terms "Afghan suspect" and terrorist motive" lead me to believe that the attack was not carried out by agnostics.

September 1, 2018