SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

PANIC – From The New York Times – Hillary Rodham Clinton had planned to spend the last two weeks of August on vacation, unwinding and fund-raising on the exclusive shores of Long Island. But, as it turns out, this is no time for a vacation.  Amid concerns about Mrs. Clinton’s softening poll numbers and her exclusive use of a personal email server as secretary of state, she will interrupt her Hamptons stay next week to travel to the Midwest and try to shift attention back to her campaign message by unveiling new policy positions.  She will then return to the Hamptons, where she and former President Bill Clinton are renting a beachside estate in Amagansett that costs $100,000 for a two-week stay, and will attend several $2,700-per-person fund-raisers hosted there by her wealthy friends.  The optics are awful, just awful.  She interrupts this vastly lavish vacation to spend a bit of time with the peasantry, then will return to her real friends, who'll shell out $5,400 a couple to go to another party.  Woman of the people.  She looks increasingly incompetent and out of touch.  Maybe it's time to retire to a British castle.

MIGRANT CRISIS – There is a migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, which may lead to a new flood of immigrants into Europe, at a time of economic stress.  From AFP:   Rome (AFP) - Italy's coastguard on Saturday successfully coordinated the rescue of around 3000 migrants in the Mediterranean after receiving distress calls from more than 20 overcrowded vessels drifting in waters off Libya.  One of the biggest single-day rescue operations to date appeared to have been concluded without any reports of casualties.  Two navy ships, the Cigala Fulgosi and the Vega, picked up, respectively, 507 and 432 migrants from two wooden boats in danger of sinking just off Libya, the navy said.  The coastguard said its patrol boats had boarded a total of just under 1,000 people from various unseaworthy fishing boats and inflatables that had left Libya overnight Friday-Saturday.  This has explosive potential.  There was anti-violence in Germany yesterday, and growing friction with immigrant groups throughout Europe.  In the event of a severe economic turndown, this can turn very ugly.

CRUZ DOES IT AGAIN – Whether you like him or not, you've got to hand it to Ted Cruz.  He's one of the most effective speakers and debaters in the GOP, and he pretty much levels every opponent he meets.  From AP:   Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was the hands-down favorite of the Americans for Prosperity annual summit in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend, if the number and volume of ovations during the speeches of five presidential candidates who addressed the annual convention of tea party activists was the measure.  At the other end of the spectrum was former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a newcomer to events financed by conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch. Bush was attending his first national conference of Americans for Prosperity and was greeted with respectful but restrained applause by a group that rose essentially out of Republican dissatisfaction with federal spending under his brother, former President George W. Bush.  Bush is simply doing poorly, despite a fine record as governor of Florida.  His "people" say he's maintaining a disciplined pace, going for the long haul, and that may well turn out to be true.  But there are many reports that his donors are frustrated by his lackluster performance thus far.

August 22, 2015