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

TERROR – At least one suspicious package was found in Elizabeth, New Jersey tonight, and a robot reportedly detonated an explosive device within the package.  At the same time, the FBI detained a vehicle in New York, reportedly with five men inside, in connection with Saturday night's bombing in Manhattan.  Some sources say the five were in Arab dress, but that is not confirmed.  It is also reported, but not officially confirmed, that the men were headed to Kennedy International Airport.  They apparently are from Elizabeth, New Jersey.  This whole series of events is clearly very suspicious.  There was, as readers know, an explosion along the route of an anticipated Marine race in New Jersey on Saturday.  And there was the stabbing of eight people at a mall in Minneapolis by a man making references to Allah.  We cannot report these events with 100% certainty, but reports from various news organizations are starting to align.  I can't deny my concern that authorities in Washington might intervene to minimize the possible threat to Americans, a fairly common tactic by the Obama administration.

OBAMA ON HIS FAVORITE SUBJECT – HIMSELF – FROM AP:   WASHINGTON (AP) — In one of his last major appearances on the world stage, President Barack Obama will try to define how his leadership has made the planet safer and more prosperous when he gives his farewell speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.  Obama’s challenge at the annual gathering of world leaders is to cast the past eight years as ones of overall progress, without glossing over the profound problems that have eluded his diplomacy. His successes in galvanizing action on climate change and encouraging democratic changes in Cuba and Myanmar are tempered by crises across the Middle East and North Korea’s nuclear threat, which has only strengthened.  Obama’s UN ambassador, Samantha Power, said that when Obama came into office in early 2009, the US was isolated. She said Obama had told fellow leaders he planned a “new era of engagement” that recognized countries must address common threats together.  “I think it’s hard to overstate the transformative effect that this approach has had,” Power said.  What a crock.  We're losing everywhere, but we're engaged, and we should feel good about ourselves.  And by the way, I didn't notice in 2009 that we were isolated.  These characters have only four more months left in office.  I count the days.

MR. INDIFFERENCE – FROM GATEWAY PUNDIT:   Will New Yorkers care that the president of the United States headlined a fundraiser in their city 24 hours after 29 people were wounded by a pressure cooker bomb packed with ball bearings in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and said nothing about the attack?   That’s what happened Sunday night when President Barack Obama spoke at a high dollar fundraiser at the home of restaurateur Danny Meyer, owner of Shake Shack.  Pool reports from the event show no comment from Obama about the attack that was actually two pressure cooker bombs set four blocks apart.  This lack of caring isn't new.  We are mere subjects, he is our monarch.  We must learn to know our place. 

September 18,  2016