SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

HOW SAD – FROM BIZPACREVIEW.COM:  This year, for the first time since its inception in 1989, the Armed Forces Farewell event will reportedly not be held for an outgoing president.  “The Pentagon, in a break with recent tradition, will not host an Armed Forces Farewell tribute to President Donald Trump. … Two senior defense officials confirmed … Thursday that no military farewell is being planned for the commander in chief,” Defense One reported Thursday.  No reason was specified for the break in tradition. It’s also not clear whether the event was canceled by military brass or by the president himself. The latter scenario seems unlikely given his love for the military.  What’s known is that the president plans to hold his own “farewell” event on the morning of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. The president has been a supreme supporter of the military, unlike his predecessor, Barack Obama.  It's not right for the relationship to end this way.

THE ASSAULT ON ICE CREAM – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  China has come up with a new ice cream no one wants to try.  During routine government testing recently, three samples from a northern China ice cream company came back positive for COVID-19.  Officials now believe that 4,836 boxes of the ice cream may have been contaminated — more than half of which had already been distributed for sale when the test results came back, Sky News reported Friday.  Only 2,089 boxes of ice cream could be confiscated in time, the report said.  The ice cream was produced by the Tianjin Daqiaodao Food Company, where the 1,662 employees were tested Thursday, and were quarantining.  Dr. Stephen Griffin, a virologist at the University of Leeds in the UK, told the outlet an infected person most likely contaminated the batches. “Of course, any level of contamination is not acceptable and always a cause for concern, but the chances are that this is the result of an issue with the production plant and potentially down to hygiene at the factory,” he said.  History deals with nations as they deal with their ice cream.  Tbis is an unacceptable insult to ice cream lovers everywhere, and another reason to take the threat of China seriously.

January 16, 2021