SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:46 P.M. ET:

THOSE DEMS, SO BRILLIANT – FROM NEED TO KNOW NETWORK:   On Tuesday, disgruntled Democrats held a forum to discuss the possibility of replacing the Electoral College.  Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) conceded that Democrats could not get rid of the Electoral College due to the way the United States Constitution is written.  “I don’t think we can sustain our American democracy by having the majority ruled by the minority. And so the question is how to fix this since the Constitution is written in such a way that it’s almost impossible to amend,” Lofgren said.  Lofgren went on to say she is open to a Constitutional Convention, “We are three states away from calling for a Constitutional Convention. It’s something I’ve always been opposed to, …. But I’ll say because, for the second time in sixteen years, people the American voters elected did not become president. Rational people, not the fringe, are now talking about whether states could be separated from the U.S., whether we should have a Constitutional Convention. And I think as time goes on that is apt to become more the case unless we here can figure an answer to preventing the majority from being ruled by the minority.  It's kind of typical of liberal Democrats to want to change the rules if they don't win the game.  It's like the way they run to the courts if legislatures won't pass their bills.  The country is called the United States of America.  We vote by state.  The founders saw that as the wisest way to have all regions represented, and not have mob rule.  It's worked out pretty well.

GEE, WHAT A SURPRISE – FROM THE POLITICO:   Donald Trump’s first major action as president-elect — the deal he and Vice President-elect Mike Pence struck last week with Carrier Corp. — is earning high marks from American voters, a new Politico/Morning Consult poll shows.  Voters surveyed overwhelmingly view Trump’s negotiations with Carrier — which resulted in about 1,000 manufacturing jobs at the heating, ventilation and air conditioning company remaining in Indiana rather than moving to Mexico — as an appropriate use of presidential prerogative. And a majority of voters say the Carrier deal gives them a more favorable view of Trump, though his overall favorability ratings were virtually unchanged from mid-November.  While some conservatives and conservative groups — including The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board and former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin — have decried the Carrier deal as “crony capitalism,” the Politico/Morning Consult poll shows it’s a political winner for Trump. Sixty percent of voters say Carrier’s decision to keep some manufacturing jobs in Indiana, where Pence is still serving as governor, gives them a more favorable view of Trump. That includes not only 87 percent of self-identified Republicans, but also 54 percent of independents and 40 percent of Democrats.  Yeah, jobs are popular.  Will someone whisper that to the Democratic National Committee?

WHO NEEDS MATH WHEN YOU CAN GO OUT AND DEMONSTRATE? – FROM US NEWS: WASHINGTON (AP) — American students have a math problem.  The latest global snapshot of student performance shows declining math scores in the U.S. and stagnant performance in science and reading.  "We're losing ground — a troubling prospect when, in today's knowledge-based economy, the best jobs can go anywhere in the world," said Education Secretary John B. King Jr. "Students in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Minnesota aren't just vying for great jobs along with their neighbors or across state lines, they must be competitive with peers in Finland, Germany, and Japan."  Math was a stubborn concern. "This pattern that we're seeing in mathematics seems to be consistent with what we've seen in previous assessments ... everything is just going down," said Peggy Carr, acting commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics.  The 2015 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, study is the latest to document that American students are underperforming their peers in several Asian nations. The U.S. was below the international average in math and about average in science and reading. Singapore was the top performer in all three subjects on the PISA test.  But do those foreign kids know words like "microaggressions"?  I'll bet they don't.  And do they know where the safe spaces are in their schools, places where they won't be bothered by dangerous ideas?  Not a chance.   Who needs a lotta them numbers?

December 6,  2016