SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

CLOSE CALL – FROM REUTERS:   A suspected suicide bomber was killed after detonating an explosive device near the US consulate in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah on Monday, the BBC reported, citing Saudi media.  Two policemen were reportedly wounded in the attack that occurred in the early hours of Monday, said the British Broadcasting Corp said on its website.  The Jeddah consulate was the scene of a militant attack in 2004 in which nine people were killed, the BBC said.   A new incident every few days.  One by one by one.

CHICAGO HORROR – FROM CBS:   The city of Chicago is dealing with a major spike in gun violence. Ten people were shot overnight Friday.  Last month, 72 people were shot to death. There have already been 350 homicides in Chicago this year, outpacing the total for the same period in 2015.  The city may even surpass 600 murders for the first time in more than a decade.  Chicago police are warning the city could see one of its most violent and deadly holiday weekends on record.  To combat the violence, the city's embattled police force is adding 5,000 more officers to patrol its Navy Pier and city neighborhoods.  The new police chief, Eddie Johnson, said he's also putting 150 officers that were on desk duty back on the streets.  Good moves.  At least they've stopped blaming the gun manufacturers and full moons.  But there has to be a reason why New York reduced murder by so much and Chicago did not.  I think the name is Giuliani.

IT'S ALL ABOUT SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEPRIVATION, ISN'T IT? – FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:    DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh’s capital city reeled in shock on Sunday as clues began to flood social media about the privileged backgrounds of the half-dozen attackers believed to have butchered 20 patrons of a restaurant during a bloody siege here late last week.  The six attackers were killed when the army stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery to end an 11-hour siege early Saturday.  The police declined to name the young men because nobody had shown up as of Sunday night to identify their bodies, but friends and relatives recognized photographs that were posted on a messaging app by the Islamic State, along with praise for the violence.  The men, all in their late teens or early 20s, were products of Bangladesh’s elite, several having attended one of the country’s top English-medium private schools as well as universities both in the country and abroad.  Among them was the son of a former city leader in the prime minister’s own Awami League, the governing party.  Rest assured, we'll still be told by the 1960s crowd that controls the U.S. Government that they were oppressed, despite their bank accounts.

July 3, 2016