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

CULTURAL CHANGE – From Breitbart:   Britain’s largest Islamic charity says it wants to “break down barriers” and portray Islam positively by launching a new advertising campaign which will slap the phrase “glory to Allah” on the side of London buses.  The new campaign by Islamic Relief is, ostensibly, targeted at raising donations for their Ramadan aid to Syria, but is attracting attention for the “hundreds” of buses which will be decorated with the phrase “Subhan’Allah”, or ‘Glory to Allah’.  Muslims reading the advert are told that to “gather the rewards of Ramadan”, they must to donate to Islamic Relief, an organisation which had its accounts with banking giant HSBC closed after “concerns that cash for aid could end up with terrorist groups abroad”.  Public transport has been chosen for the Islamic re-branding in London, Manchester, Leicester, Birmingham, and Bradford – all UK locations with high and growing Muslim populations, reports the Sunday Times.  Coming soon to a city near you.

MAJOR HEALTH NEWS – From London's Telegraph:   Parents’ immersion in smartphones has left some neglected children starting primary school unable to hold conversations, new research warns.  Almost a third of children starting school are not ready for the classroom, with many lacking social skills, having speech problems or not toilet trained, the survey of senior primary school staff has found.  Teachers warned of children suffering from a lack of attention and interaction from parents obsessed with their smartphones.  Why do I think that, if it weren't smartphones, it would be something else that would be occupying the time of below-par parents?

IT HAPPENS – We have all been mortified at some point.  From the New York Post:  A Big Apple mom tried to surprise her daughter at college by sneaking into her dorm, but wound up breaking into the wrong room and snapping a selfie on a stranger’s bed — completely mortifying her millennial offspring.   Deanna Pilling traveled from her Morningside Heights apartment to Utah State University last week to pick up 18-year-old McKenna, who had just completed her first year at the school.  But instead of telling her daughter she had arrived, Pilling decided to give the freshman a surprise. Pilling, 57, snapped a picture of herself sprawled out on the bed and sent her daughter a text that read: “Look where I am! Where are you?” McKenna wrote back: “Where’s that?  I’m in my dorm. Please tell me you’re not in someone else’s dorm.” Her embarrassed mother bolted from the room, telling her daughter through text, “I am in the wrong dorm omg.”  A selfie to remember.

May 9,  2016