SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:41 P.M. ET: 

HISPANICS RANK IMMIGRATION LOW – This will come as a surprise to some politicians.  From Breitbart:  "Immigration is only the 6th-most-important issue for Latino voters in California when casting a vote for a candidate for U.S. Senator or for U.S. Congress, according to a statewide survey conducted by Univision.   When registered Latino voters were asked to name their most important issues, the results, in order, were: education (21%), jobs (16%), government spending and the deficit (15%), social security (13%), "how what they do will affect my wallet" (10%), health care (9%), immigration (8%), and crime and personal safety (5%).  An overwhelming 86% of those surveyed support comprehensive immigration reform. However, a majority--53%--of registered Latino voters in California also answered that they believe that, “…we should require borders to be secured before providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants."  Furthermore, when asked, “Which of the following is your major concern or complaint about the Republican Party?” only ten percent of those surveyed named Republican opposition to immigration reform."  White liberals will now denounce Hispanics as not liberal enough.

GRIM IN IRAQ – From Fox:  "BAGHDAD – Hundreds of women from the Yazidi religious minority have been taken captive by Sunni militants with 'vicious plans,' an Iraqi official said Friday, further underscoring the dire plight of Iraq's minorities at the hands of the Islamic State group.  Kamil Amin, the spokesman for Iraq's Human Rights Ministry, said hundreds of Yazidi women below the age of 35 are being held in schools in Iraq's second largest city, Mosul. He said the ministry learned of the captives from their families."  Please note the silence of "women's rights" groups.  Unless something is done by a Western democracy, they're just not interested.  I just think that many of these groups, which are usually dominated by the militant left, have lost any credibility.

OUR LIMITED STRIKES – The United States did launch some air strikes today against limited targets in Iraq.  However, a growing number of experts and pseudo-experts are warning that these are pinpricks against ISIS, a powerful and skilled military force representing the worst of Islamic extremism.  Our planes were carrier-based, from the USS George H.W. Bush, which is our newest operational carrier.  The very newest is the USS Gerald Ford, the first ship of her class, which is under construction.  Commentators are wondering if Field Marshal Obama has a strategy here.  He says his first objective is to stop a genocide and protect American training cadres on the ground.  What then?  Do we withdraw our aircraft and let ISIS run all over Iraq?  There doesn't seem to be any long-term objective, which is what got us into trouble in Iraq in the first place.  Islamic extremists of all kinds are watching carefully, planning for our exit from Afghanistan.

August 8, 2014