SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET:

GREEK TRAGEDY – Greece has been off the front pages, but may be facing another economic crisis that could impact the European Union, and, ultimately, us.  From the Washington Post:  "ATHENS — The long-dormant euro crisis could come roaring back to life Monday with a vote in the Greek Parliament that is expected to bring down the pro-austerity government and open the way for a radical leftist party to take power for the first time in the history of the European Union.  The vote will be watched closely around the continent as a marker of economic peril in the year ahead as Europe gazes into the abyss of another recession. But it could also be a key political milestone as the center gives way to forces that were once relegated to the European fringe and are now buoyed by a populist, anti-austerity backlash."  Europe could easily slip over the edge.  It has that habit.

AIRLINER LATEST – From CNN:  "(CNN) -- Indonesia's top rescue official says authorities believe the missing AirAsia jet is likely at the bottom of the sea, based on radar data from the plane's last contact.
'(Because) the coordinate that was given to us and the evolution from the calculation point of the flight track is at sea, our early conjecture is that the plane is in the bottom of the sea,' Bambang Sulistyo, head of Indonesia's national search and rescue agency, told reporters Monday.  But searchers still don't know where the plane is, he said, and may need help from other countries for help with an underwater search.  The search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501 resumed on Monday, a day after the commercial jet disappeared in Indonesian airspace with 162 people aboard."  The prevailing assumption is still that violent weather is behind the plane's disappearance, but I'd keep an open mind.  Many other planes were flying in the area yesterday, and they weren't brought down.

SAME OLD STORY – From the Los Angeles Times:  "St. Louis prosecutors on Saturday charged well-known Ferguson, Mo., activist Joshua Williams, 19, with setting fire to a convenience store during protests sparked by the police shooting of teenager earlier this week.  St. Louis County police said in a criminal complaint that surveillance video and news footage show Williams starting multiple fires inside and outside the Quick Trip convenience store as it was being looted early Wednesday morning.  Williams has been widely quoted in the media as an advocate for peaceful protest since Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, 18, on Aug. 9."  We see this same story over and over – some photogenic guy sells himself as a peaceful protester, and it turns out he's an instigator.  Maybe a little less press coverage will put a dent in the professional rioters.

December 28, 2014