SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

INCREDIBLE – FROM YAHOO SPORTS:  Less than a week before the 2016 Rio Olympics are set to start, the Brazil Ministry of Justice terminated its contract with a private firm that was supposed to provide security for the games. The ministry cited “incompetence and irresponsibility” from the Rio de Janeiro-based firm Artel, and moved to strip them of their duties.  It’s not hard to see why the Ministry of Justice reacted so harshly. With only a few days left until the first venues are set to open, Artel admitted that they have only hired 500 security personnel.  They were supposed to hire 3,400.  These staff members were going to be responsible for screening visitors outside each Olympic venue. X-ray machines and body searches are now going to be handled by local police forces to secure areas that are expected to have tens of thousands of screaming fans.   Did they just discover these problems in the last week?  They've had years to plan.  What has the International Olympic Committee been doing, aside from collecting money for its executives?

THAT'S THE SPIRIT – FROM FOX NEWS:   Muslims have refused to bury one of the terrorists who murdered a French Catholic priest this week as he celebrated Mass.  Community leaders in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy said they did not want to "taint" Islam by having any association with Adel Kermiche, the 19-year-old jihadist who killed Father Jacques Hamel in his hometown in northern France.  Mohammed Karabila, president of the local Muslim cultural association and imam of one of the town's mosques, told Le Parisien newspaper: "We're not going to taint Islam with this person. We won't participate in preparing the body or the burial."  In a separate conversation with Sky News, Karabila reiterated there would be no involvement by the mosque's religious leadership in any funeral.  A fine statement of dignity.  We need more of this from Islam.

TERROR MARCHES ON – FROM REUTERS:   BRUSSELS - Police arrested two men suspected of planning an attack in Belgium after house searches on Friday evening, federal prosecutors said on Saturday.
The two, named as 33-year-old Nourredine H. and his brother Hamza H., will appear before a judge on Saturday to determine whether they should be held in custody beyond an initial 24 hours.  "Based on provisional results from the investigation, it appears that there were plans to carry out an attack somewhere in Belgium," the federal prosecution office said in a statement.  For the time being there was no connection with the attacks at Brussels airport and the metro on March 22, in which 32 people were killed, the prosecution office said.  We have three months and a week before our presidential election.  Sadly, the odds are great that there'll be another major attack during this period.

July 30, 2016