SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

BETRAYAL!! – FROM CAMPUS REFORM:   Students at Princeton University are outraged over an online job listing advertising a position with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  The controversial listing was featured on Handshake, a third-party recruiting platform provided to students by Princeton’s Career Service...According to the Princetonian, several Hispanic students discovered the job posting and found it controversial in light of Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.   Eva Kubu, the interim executive director of Princeton’s Career Services, told the newspaper that the job listing was originally posted by Handshake in the fall of 2017.  Samuel Santiago, a student at the school, came across the listing in late June, proclaiming in a Facebook post that “Handshake is helping ICE recruit Princeton University students to become Border Patrol Agents.”  I don't know what we do about something this serious. 

OUR WORST-RUN CITIES – FROM CBS LOCAL:  Washington D.C. may be the nation’s capitol, but a new survey is also calling it the “worst-run” city in America.  Personal finance website WalletHub has released its rankings for the worst big cities in the country and found that several high-profile places are at the bottom of the list when it comes to city management and operating efficiency.  Here are the 10 worst-run cities according to WalletHub’s July 9 release:  Washington D.C.; Detroit, Michigan; New York City; San Francisco; Gulfport, Mississippi;. Oakland, California; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Flint, Michigan; Cleveland;
and Hartford, Connecticut.   The presence of the Democratic Party is prominent on that list.

THE HORSE RACE – FROM BLOOMBERG:  Democrats turned out more voters overall than Republicans in 14 of the most competitive congressional districts that have had primaries so far, signaling the eagerness of the party’s base to confront Donald Trump in the first midterm election of his presidency.  While the turnout numbers are positive for the party, they don’t indicate a decisive edge in the November congressional elections that will determine whether Democrats gain a majority in the House.  The advantage also isn’t spread evenly. Democrats tallied more total votes than Republicans in just half of the 14 the districts, and they’ll need to win in many of those places to gain at least 23 U.S. House seats to take control of the chamber.  Republicans will have to fight harder than ever before to keep control of Congress.  Odds are they will keep the Senate, where judicial nominations are confirmed, but the House is in doubt.

July 11, 2018