There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. – Albert Einstein

Tuesday’s Quick Hits is the column where I post a short narrative from recent major stories and provide brief commentary.

Today’s quick hits deal with these important subjects:

• Fourth Democratic Presidential Debate
• Shepard Smith
• Neil Cavuto’s Common Sense
• Lions vs Packers

FOURTH DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE:

Surprise! The fourth Democratic presidential debate is tonight (Tuesday) on CNN.

Are you excited about this or do you already have your mind made up? There will be 12 candidates on one stage. The event is being held at 8 pm ET at Otterbein University, outside of Columbus, Ohio. (Source)

CNN and the New York Times are co-hosting the debate.

Montana Governor Steve Bullock did not secure a spot for this debate. He has made one debate out of four.

Here are the candidates who will be participating:

• Joe Biden
• Cory Booker
• Pete Buttigieg
• Julián Castro
• Tulsi Gabbard
• Kamala Harris
• Amy Klobuchar
• Beto O’Rourke
• Bernie Sanders
• Tom Steyer
• Elizabeth Warren
• Andrew Yang

I’m not sure having 12 people participate is a good idea.

SHEPARD SMITH:

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith left Fox News…

On Friday Shepard Smith announced that he was leaving Fox News. He had been with Fox News since it started in 1996. I tried to watch him or listen to him via Sirius/XM radio each day, as he was one of the few anchors on Fox News that I thought was providing news reports based on fact and not on politics.

During his closing remarks, Smith said, “I’ve witnessed and reported on the events that shaped our reality. Together with my colleagues we have written a first draft of history and endeavored to deliver it to you while speaking truth to power without fear or favor it in context and with perspective.”

He closed with, “It has been an honor and my pleasure. Even in our currently polarized nation, it’s my hope that the facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive.”

Good luck to Shep – I’m sure when his non-compete agreement is over, he’ll land somewhere quickly.

NEIL CAVUTO’S COMMON SENSE:

Cavuto gives us some “Common Sense.”

I don’t normally watch Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, but I happened to catch this video posted a few weeks ago from his “Common Sense” segment.

I think you will enjoy it.

I may need to watch Neil more often…

LIONS VS PACKERS:

The Packers beat the Lions on a last-second field goal…

It was a pretty good Monday Night Football game between Detroit and Green Bay, with the Packers winning 23-22 on a last-second field goal.

There were 14 total penalties in the game, but as the Associated Press (AP) put it, the Packers got a couple of calls that may have cost the Lions the game:

The Packers might not have pulled it off if not for two penalties for illegal hands to the face against Detroit’s Trey Flowers, the second of which allowed Green Bay to run the clock down to 2 seconds before Crosby’s game-winner. In both cases, replays showed Flowers’ hands on the neck or shoulder of a Packers lineman.

It’s too bad with all this technology used in NFL games that it can’t be used to make sure calls like this do not affect the outcome of the game. The officials watching the game from NFL headquarters could have buzzed the game officials and let them know the flags thrown for illegal hands to the face were an obvious error. I don’t think the official who threw the flag should throw it unless he/she actually sees hands to the face.

The Chiefs faced a similar fate on Sunday when the officials called pass interference, but then, on their own, picked up the flag. This was after they announced the penalty. You could plainly see that it was at least holding on the defense.

There are too many penalties in the NFL. There are many mistakes in officiating, too.

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