Debate Time Approaches, Mass Shooting in Houston, Cakes and Flags in the News: P.M. Links

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  Andrew Gombert/EPA/Newscom

  The Clinton-Trump debate is very nearly here! Are you shivering in anticipation? Or fear? Or apathy?

• Violent crime rates are up but still remarkably low when put in context of the past few decades. Don't be surprised if those statistics are completely ignored tonight following a mass shooting at a Houston shopping center that injured nine people.
• The officer who shot Keith Scott in Charlotte was, in fact, wearing a body camera, but it wasn't turned on during the confrontation, in violation of department policy.
• More on the man allegedly responsible for shooting and killing five people at a mall in Seattle last week. (Spoiler: He had a troubled background.)
• Disney is reportedly considering a bid to buy Twitter. Well, they have become kind of a Mickey Mouse outfit.
• Walmart has apologized for employees at a Georgia store refusing to make a cake for a retiring police officer because they felt the symbolism of the "thin blue line" was racist.
• Students at University of Vermont hoisted a Black Lives Matter flag on campus and predictable things happened.

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