SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET:

HORROR – From KTLA:  A Texas sheriff’s deputy died Friday after being shot multiple times from behind in an “unprovoked attack” while pumping gas into his vehicle while on duty.  The Harris County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports that a deputy had been shot, the department tweeted around 8 p.m.  The department confirmed an hour later that the deputy, identified as Darren Goforth, had died.   Goforth was pumping gas when he was shot several times from behind, the department tweeted, adding that it was an “unprovoked attack.”  Goforth was a 10-year veteran, with a wife and two children.  This was an execution.  It will raise social tensions.  It comes just days after some radical blacks called for the execution of police officers, but we cannot now demonstrate a direct connection.  Let's see if the national news outlets give this murder the attention it deserves.  Police lives matter.

NO CLASS – From Fox:  WASHINGTON – Newly surfaced emails show the Clinton Foundation asked the State Department about proceeding with two presumably paid speeches for former President Bill Clinton in North Korea and the Republic of the Congo, despite each engagement’s ties to repressive regimes.  The emails, obtained by FoxNews.com, surfaced as part of a records request by the group Citizens United.  In both sets of 2012 emails between the foundation led by Bill Clinton and the department led by wife Hillary Clinton, the former president’s team acknowledged the invitations could raise concerns. But they asked the State Department, which screened all such speeches by the ex-president, anyway.  Why would a former president of the United States even consider speaking in such places?  Money.

DEMS AT WAR – From The Hill:  Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley thinks the Democratic Party’s decision to limit the number of primary debates is tantamount to rigging the nomination process.  “Four debates and only four debates — we are told, not asked — before voters in our earliest states make their decision,” the presidential candidate said at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Summer Meeting on Friday.  “This sort of rigged process has never been attempted before,” he added. “One debate in Iowa. That’s it. One debate in New Hampshire. That’s all we can afford.”  After O'Malley's speech wrapped up, observers noted palpable tension as he greeted DNC Chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.  There are civil wars going on within each party, and that's common.  Both parties have, historically, had deep divisions.  Former President Teddy Roosevelt bolted his party to run for president again in 1912.   Southern Democrats walked out of the Democratic Party in 1948 to back Strom Thurmond, who ran as a third-party candidate.  Even some of FDR's Democratic allies balked at his running for a third term in 1940.  Parties are not automatically harmonious.

August 28,  2015