The networks are playing sections from Melania Trump's speech next to parallel and identical sections from Michelle Obama's speech from the 2008 DNC.
The Trump campaign says there was no plagiarism, but that the two women share many common values which both wives expressed using common words and expressions.
I find the whole thing fascinating, especially because in my 10 years teaching at the college level I came across some cases of plagiarism. Thankfully, they were surprisingly rare considering the number of papers I assigned and then had to read (what was I thinking??) and sermons I listened to. I had two especially egregious cases - one paper and one sermon. I had the paper's writer dead to rights with evidence, including the author of the original paper. The student preacher maintained his innocence through the entire process.
The good news: I would have given Chuck Swindoll a very good grade had he preached that sermon in my class.
The bad news: This particular student preaching a Swindoll-level message was like me striking out David Ortiz on three straight pitches. Red flags all over the place, even as he was preaching it.
Some pundits are saying heads should roll, and whoever served as a speechwriter for Melania's debut performance should be in the unemployment line by tomorrow morning.
Me? I'll let you speculate on what I did to the two aforementioned plagiarizers and then infer what I'd do if someone who worked for me signed off on Melania's speech.
Meanwhile, I'm still feeding mice in the loft who pick the peanut butter off the traps with impunity and seem to gobble up the poison blocks just as easily. Assuming they're all like the several I bopped on the head while doing the restoration up there they are little tiny things, so I may need a more sensitive trap. Or a shotgun.
I read yesterday about Anatolian Shepherds. Cool dogs.
One of these days we'll have a real dog.
Last night we watched "Inspector Lewis," the latest series on Masterpiece Mystery, PBS's Sunday night program. (we record it) I think I read that this is the 3rd or 4th season, but it's our first time to watch this one and it took us awhile to figure out who were the main characters and their roles. It's a little trickier because the thick British accent is sometimes difficult to understand. That said, we heartily recommend all of the Masterpiece Mystery series. Once past that initial episode and figuring out who's who, they're all very good, thoughtful, and entertaining.
One weird thing from last night: while watching Lewis get dressed for work I found myself thinking, "I miss wearing a suit and tie."
I thought about that this morning as I put on blue jeans and a T-shirt, my retirement uniform. I'm not sure I still remember how to tie my neckties.
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