Pardon me

Where did you guys hear that the text limit of Twitter was 44 characters?   I thought it has always been 140 characters and, after reading a few tweets myself, that figure looks about right.  But I'm not on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or any of those other social media platforms and I don't do any texting on the phone.  Email is okay, and participation in a few user groups is about as far as I go with all this immediate info stuff.  My needs are simple.

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Houston certainly has a problem.  I've heard about their lack of zoning laws but I had to look a little further; no zoning laws in a big city strikes me as strange.  But it has worked for them, I guess.  There are some limitations regarding liquor sales and strip clubs and their proximity to schools, minimum lot sizes for certain businesses but otherwise, anything goes.  It's not uncommon for a high-rise building to pop up in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

But I wonder how the rainfall from Harvey will impact the area with it's crazy building practices.  Will a deep,  solid foundations cause other smaller buildings to be swept away?  An unbelievable amount of water has fallen, and it's still coming down.  The New York Times had a little blurb which Uncle Ken can appreciate since he surely noticed the amount of water falling over Horseshoe Falls during his recent trip.  The amount of water that Houston has endured is equal to a 9 month output of Horseshoe Falls, 24/7.  Or to put it another way, imagine a cube more than two miles on a side.  It's that much water.  Hoo, boy.

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"News Dump" is another expression that I didn't notice enter the common lexicon.  A news dump is when a significant item of interest is made public at a time when it may pass unnoticed  by the news media.  Late Friday is a good time for this, as is a time when a bigger story is grabbing the headlines, such as a major weather event like a hurricane.  Last Friday was the perfect time for Trump's news dump announcing the pardon of Sheriff Joe; late on a Friday while Houston was getting hammered.  Yet, the media still picked up on it, and there are some troublesome implications of that pardon.

Sheriff Joe wasn't convicted for racial profiling, he was in contempt of court, a misdemeanor with only a six month sentence.  When you accept a pardon you are admitting guilt, and this presidential pardon is a major smackdown of the federal judiciary system.   Some pundits have mentioned that pardons may be issued for folks not yet charged, but the lawyers are still yammering about that possibility.  That pardon sends a particular signal that any of Trump's pals who may be in trouble need not worry, he'll take care of them as long as they continue to be loyal.  This could fall under the umbrella of "obstruction of justice" but I am not a lawyer, and I wonder if Mueller can find a way around this.  All of his subpoenaed witnesses could claim the fifth, be found in contempt of Congress, and walk away scot-free with a pardon already in hand.

This is worse than Watergate, the coverup of a third-rate burglary.  I don't know about quantum foam, but Watergate was a simple matter of connecting the dots.  It is different today, the dots are fuzzy and they extend in the third dimension, maybe even the fourth.

Another interesting facet of the pardon is that it occurred when Congress was not in session.  How fortuitous!   I would wager that there is much backroom discussion going on right now between all the Congressfolk, and they're not using Twitter, email, or cellphones.  I, for one, welcome the return of the smoke-filled room.