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

OBAMA SINKS AGAIN – From The Hill:  "President Obama's job approval hit a new low of 40 percent in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Tuesday, as the public expressed widespread disappointment in the state of the country.  Fifty-four percent disapprove of his performance, with 6 percent unsure.  Obama received poor marks for both foreign policy and on the economy, a troubling sign for the president and Democrats with only three months before the midterm elections.  Respondents rated Obama's handling of foreign policy even lower, with 36 percent approving, also an all-time low for the president. The figure is 2 points lower than his previous low in April."  Obama probably sees this as a further sign that he is being persecuted.  He is not.  He is being found out.

MAJOR POLITICAL NEWS – From AP:  "DORSET, Minn. (AP) — A 5-year-old boy's run as mayor is over in a tiny tourist town in northern Minnesota.  Robert 'Bobby' Tufts lost his bid for a third consecutive term as mayor of Dorset on Sunday. Eric Mueller, a 16-year-old from Mendota Heights, Minnesota, won when his name was drawn from the ballot box during the annual Taste of Dorset festival.  Bobby was only 3 when he was first elected mayor in 2013. Dorset, about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis, has no formal city government and a population ranging from nine to 28.   'It was fun, but it's time to pass on the vote,' Bobby told The Associated Press by telephone Monday. Then he suggested his little brother get a shot at some point: 'I'm gonna let James do it. He's two.'"  Typical.  This nepotism is ruining the country.  This is the worst case since Jack Kennedy made his brother attorney-general.

DEEP HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE – From Fox:  "Democratic lawmaker Julia Brownley sent a political mailer to her constituents in late July featuring a woman wearing fake military attire and a German Luftwaffe insignia — apparently unaware that the costume was not an official uniform worn by U.S. personnel.  On Monday Jeff Gorell, Brownley’s Republican opponent in California’s 2th Congressional District, sent out a press release highlighting the congresswoman’s taxpayer-funded faux pas.  The candidate claims that 'concerned local veterans' brought to his attention a photograph featured along the top of the flyer — which also contains pictures of a young family, a child going to school, a vibrant classroom and other common campaign themes.  That photograph shows a young woman in a white, open-collared military uniform, wearing a white cap displaying a gold insignia and blue-and-gold trim.  Although it bears a fleeting resemblance to official attire worn by the U.S. Navy, no branch of the United States military wears a uniform like the one in the mailer. And the insignia on the cap is the symbol of the Bundeswehr Luftwaffe, Germany’s air force."  It's multiculturalism, that's all.  We must understand and appreciate the Luftwaffe.

NEW MAJOR FIND – From TIME:  "An archaeology museum in Philadelphia said Tuesday it found a 6,500-year-old human skeleton in its own basement.  Yes. Its own basement.  Researchers at the Penn Museum, which is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, said they found documentation for the human skeleton while digitizing old records. The remains are extremely rare and date to 4,500 BCE. They were unearthed by archaeologists around 1930 during an excavation of the ancient city of Ur in modern day Iraq beneath the city’s cemetery, itself dating back to 2,500 BCE, Reuters reports.  The skeleton, which scientists have named Noah, is roughly 2,000 years older than any other remains found at the excavation site. The find could give scholars a new depth of understanding into everyday life during the little-understood time period."  I understand the guy has already been registered to vote in Philadelphia.

August 5,  2014