SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET:

BOGEY'S "BABY" DEAD AT 89 – Lauren Bacall, one of the real movie stars of the 1940s, Hollywood's golden age, has died at 89.  Her film career was associated with Humphrey Bogart, with whom she often starred, and whom she married.  He called her "baby," thus her tag, "Bogey's baby."  It was both blessing and curse.  When Bogart died in 1957 the Bogart/Bacall mystique was shattered, and Bacall's film career faded.  She did some fine stage work, though, in the 1960s.  When we lived in Manhattan she lived in the building next to ours.  I often waited in the same Chase bank line with her, but didn't know her.  She was legendarily difficult and a die-hard liberal.  But her on-screen radiance, especially playing opposite Bogart, made her a true star.  There aren't many left. 

THE USUAL – Well, Hillary Clinton's "independence" from Barack Obama lasted about two days.  From The Politico:  "Hillary Clinton called President Barack Obama on Tuesday to 'make sure he knows that nothing she said was an attempt to attack him' when she recently discussed her views on foreign policy in an interview with The Atlantic, according to a statement from a Clinton spokesman.  The statement comes amid tension between the Clinton and Obama camps in the wake of the interview. It also comes as Obama and Clinton, his former secretary of state, are due to cross paths at a social gathering Wednesday night in Martha’s Vineyard."  In the end, Hillary's lack of character always gets her.  Of course she was attacking Obama in the Atlantic interview.  It was close to scathing.  And the heat started coming immediately from the left wing of her party, which is now alarmed that Hillary can think like an American.  We'll see if she displays any courage in the future.

INCREDIBLE – From the Daily Signal:  "More than 600 convicted criminals, including felons, were among thousands of illegal immigrants freed under the Obama administration in advance of 2013 budget cuts mandated under sequestration.  That’s according to a new report today from the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security."  And now we're told the president might well issue executive orders providing blanket amnesty for millions of undocumented immigrants, although his legal authority to do so is sketchy.  A nation of laws or a nation of chaos?

CHILLING – From the Daily Caller:  "The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction on Tuesday for an area surrounding Ferguson, Missouri, the town where a police officer fatally shot an unarmed 18-year-old black man, after a St. Louis County police helicopter was fired upon Sunday night.  The flight restriction was issued Tuesday at 1:15 p.m. local time. The reason for the notice is 'TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES.'  A Ferguson police officer shot Michael Brown on Saturday. The incident sparked outrage in the community as Brown was reportedly unarmed and surrendering to the officer when he was shot multiple times."  I've never heard of this done before, and it raises serious questions about the vulnerability of aircraft flying low near airports. 

August 12,  2014