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

HAVEN'T YOU EVER SEEN A GLEE CLUB BEFORE? – From Breitbart:   The FBI is now investigating a group of 17 Middle Eastern men camping in the Mojave Desert who were briefly detained on Easter Sunday, then released, after a 911 phone call was made to the Victor Valley Sheriff’s Station alleging that they had fired over 100 shots in the area.  “They were up all night chanting ‘Allah akbar’-type stuff,” an unidentified police officer was heard saying on an audio recording from a police scanner that was posted online.  It's a routine Mojave Desert function.  Nothing to see, nothing to see.

IT'S ALL FOR THE CHILDREN – From Fox:   Twelve current and former Detroit school principals were among 14 people accused of bribery and other crimes Tuesday by federal officials.  Investigators allege that Norman Shy, the owner of longtime Detroit Public Schools vendor Allstate Sales, would submit fraudulent invoices for chairs, paper and other supplies. To ensure the invoices would be approved, prosecutors claim Sly paid out more than $900,000 in cash, gift cards and checks to school officials.  In return, Sly's company received $2.7 million from the district for supplies that were delivered in far lesser quantities than promised or were never delivered at all.  Minority kids were the ones most hurt, but I guess their lives don't matter.

THE CRUZ SURGE – There's growing evidence that Ted Cruz is surging, but the continued presence of John Kasich in the raise is limiting the effects of the surge.  From Newsmax:  Billionaire developer Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are virtually tied in a head-to-head race among Republican presidential voters, according to a national poll released Tuesday.  Here are the results of the latest Public Policy Polling survey of 505 GOP voters, conducted between Thursday and Saturday:  Trump: 46 percent.  Cruz: 44 percent.  However, in a battle involving Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the New York developer leads the field:
Trump: 42 percent.  Cruz: 32 percent.  Kasich: 22 percent.  The survey also found that 51 percent of Kasich supporters would back Cruz, versus 23 percent who said they would vote for Trump.  "The Republican race nationally would be a toss-up if it was just Trump and Cruz," said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, in analyzing the results.  "But as long as Kasich stays in there splitting the anti-Trump vote, Trump continues to be in a good position," he said.  I'll speculate that Governor Kasich will get a phone call in the next few weeks from some influential chap urging him to get out of the race for the good of the party, and recommending that he run again in 2020, with establishment backing.  Might be an offer he can't refuse.

March 29, 2016