With no idea where Bradford is or why he hasn’t yet fulfilled his Friday Leading Off duty, your humble servant boldly rises to the challenge:
Gordon Keith Writes Pretty About Oswald’s Tub. If you think Gordon is just an AM radio yuk monkey, read his op-ed today about Oswald’s old bathtub, which was recently put up for sale. Given that setup, you might think the piece would be all jokes and fun times. Nope. It’s a lyrical, serious, sad story about the tiny apartment that Lee Harvey and Marina once shared. Because the story lies behind a paywall, here’s a snippet:
Oswald beat her there. Multiple times. They argued over former lovers, baked beans, unzipped dresses and whatever other pretext could ease them into their drama. Despite a love life that was intermittent and not always consensual, Marina Oswald got pregnant with their second child there, which made her sad and him hopeful because he wanted a son. It would be another daughter.
After one fight, she tried to commit suicide in the bathroom there, standing on the toilet with a rope formerly used to hang the baby’s clothes on, now to hang the baby’s mother. He stopped her.
And more:
Oswald, untrusting of his wife’s parenting and being a surprisingly loving father, volunteered, or probably insisted, that he bathe 1-year-old “Junie.” This presidential assassin, who mauled our American history and put scars on our city that we are just now covering over with arts districts and highway parks, used to climb into that tub with a splashing baby and her floating toys and play. For all his deformities of mind and spirit, he truly loved his child in a way he didn’t and couldn’t love anyone else. And it happened in that tub.
Dude writes better than 95 percent of the trained journalists who work at that paper.
Mysterious Bright Flash Seen in North Texas Sky. Something strange happened early this morning. From WFAA: “Justin Wagoner, who lives in the White Rock Lake area, said he saw a green trail and heard a large ‘sonic boom’ around the same time.” No idea why they put “sonic boom” in quotes. Do they think that’s slang or something?
Former Fat Man No Longer So Fat. Eighteen months ago, Andy Axsom weighed 385 pounds and had body mass index over 50 percent. That, friends, is morbidly obese. Today he weighs in at 250, and he’s going to run the Dallas Marathon. We’re with you, Andy.
