The University of Texas (HookEm!) removed the confederate statues in the middle of the damn night.

University president Gregory L. Fenves announced the decision late Sunday night, saying the “horrific displays of hatred” in Virginia had made it clear that Confederate statues had become “symbols of modern white supremacy and neo-Nazism.”

Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, John Reagan and former Texas governor James Stephen Hogg were all removed.  The Jefferson Davis statue was removed last year.  They will all be placed in the Briscoe Center for the Study of American History in Austin.

A couple dozen people showed up.  There were no problems.

Thing Two:  if you wanna tell us about your experience with the solar eclipse, here’s the place to do it.  I’ll get to see about 65% of it.

This morning, I called Momma – she’s 92 years old and lives in her own apartment with her own patio at an assisted living center. They serve breakfast and lunch every day. She fixes her own dinner.  I called her this morning to remind her about the eclipse.  I explained it would start about 11:45 and peak at 1:15.

“Well, I hate that,” she said, “because I go to lunch at 11:30 so I’ll miss it.”

“Well, Momma,” I replied, “lunch doesn’t last an hour and half.”

“Sometimes it does. None of us can hear so we have to repeat things a lot.”

“Well, Momma, I’ll call NASA and see if they can move it to 5:00.”

“No, that’s when I play dominoes so … you’re sassing me, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, Momma, I am.”

“Well, maybe they’ll have it at lunch.”

“Probably. They’re pretty much having it everywhere.”