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

A NEW FERGUSON? – A grand jury in New York City has declined to indict a white police officer who got a heavily overweight black man in what appears to be a chokehold during an arrest for a minor offense.  The black man died in the encounter.  There have been demonstrations in New York in response to the decision.  Expect this case to go on.  The entire episode was videotaped, and the tape is disturbing.  Even some conservatives are suggesting that the grand jury might have gotten this one wrong.  The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, although that does not automatically mean that the officer committed a crime.  The Department of Justice will investigate.  The family of the deceased would appear to have a strong civil case. 

SOME INTEREST PLEASE – From ABC:  "An American woman stabbed to death in an Abu Dhabi shopping mall by an assailant wearing a body-covering abayah was a kindergarten teacher who had been mentoring other teachers.  The victim was identified as Ibolya Ryan, who was from Colorado and was the mother of 11-year-old twins, according to the Footprints Recruiting firm that had placed her in the position.  Ryan, who was originally from Hungary, was a licensed special ed teacher from Colorado. She was hired as a kindergarten teacher in Abu Dhabi in 2013, Footprints Recruiting CEO Ben Glickman told ABC News.  Glickman said that Ryan loved living the United Arab Emirates and was mentoring other teachers.  Abu Dhabi police released surveillance video showing the suspected attacker wearing the Arabian Gulf’s traditional black abayah or robe, fully covered by a face veil."  An American has been murdered.  I'd like to see the president show the same interest in this that he showed in the Ferguson case.  We have a tendency to play down the murder of Americans in foreign countries.

MYSTERY SOLVED – From Fox:  "HOUSTON – School officials say dozens of human brains reported missing from a University of Texas research lab in Austin were actually destroyed about 12 years ago because they were in poor condition."  Some of them have now turned up in the heads of Obama's closest advisers.

CYNICAL – From the Washington Times:  "Department of Homeland Security officials wasted little time in ramping up for President Obama’s amnesty, posting 1,000 job openings the day after his announcement and announcing it already has space for hundreds of employees at a new location in Arlington, Virginia — an indication that it had laid its plans well before Mr. Obama’s announcement.  And even though Mr. Obama said his policy is temporary, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is hiring the employees for permanent positions, at salaries of up to $157,000 a year, according to the job postings listed on the official federal jobs website."  This was obviously set in motion long before the election, and long before the American people could judge the program.  Not the way democracy should work.

December 3, 2014