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

TRUMP PLEDGES – No independent bid.  From The Hill:   Donald Trump says he won't run for president as a third-party candidate "no matter what" despite past flirtations with an independent bid.  Trump said he was "totally committed to the Republican party" during Tuesday night's GOP debate and repeated that vow in an interview immediately afterward.  "When they asked it, I did not hesitate. I decided to just say, 'Yes, I'm a Republican. I'm not going to be doing a third-party [campaign],' " he told CNN's Chris Cuomo.  I'm sure he realizes that an independent bid, if he loses the GOP nomination, would guarantee a Hillary victory.  I don't think Trump would want that villain status.

GREAT MOMENTS IN EDUCATION – From The College Fix:   Saying that black women are “not hot” got a Colorado College student suspended for six months – appealed down from 21.  The sanction against Thaddeus Pryor was not the only action the school took against offensive comments posted Nov. 9 on the anonymous social-media app Yik Yak: His friend Lou Henriques was expelled.  Their jokes took place on a night where the Yik Yak conversation on campus was centered around the theme #BlackLivesMatter.  What started off as raising awareness quickly became “mud slinging,” Pryor told The College Fix in a phone interview. When someone wrote “#blackwomenmatter,” Pryor said he joined in, anonymously replying, “They matter, they’re just not hot.”  I don't know who's more childlike here, Pryor or the people who suspended him. 

MAJOR NUTRITION NEWS – From sfgate.com:   Meat-lovers, prepare to shove this in the face of all your vegetarian friends.  According to a new study from Carnegie Mellon, a vegetarian diet could be worse for the environment than a carnivorous one. Only pork chops can save the ozone now!  Fruits, vegetables, dairy and seafood have a more negative impact on the climate than meat, claims the study. The meat-less diet increases energy use by 38 percent, water use by 10 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by six percent.  "Eating lettuce is over three times worse in greenhouse gas emissions than eating bacon," Paul Fischbeck, professor of social and decisions sciences and engineering and public policy, told Carnegie Mellon. "Lots of common vegetables require more resources per calorie than you would think. Eggplant, celery and cucumbers look particularly bad when compared to pork or chicken."  I feel completely vindicated, if a bit heavier.

THE DEBATE – I watched the debate, up to the point of severe boredom, at the Women's National Republican Club in Manhattan.  It's fun to watch among political friends, and to sense their reactions.  The debate itself was uneventful.  Once again, there were too many candidates.  Once again, the debate was too long.  Once again, it deteriorated into esoteric points, like the ethnic divisions in the Middle East.

Unless the herd is thinned, any future debates are useless.  Voters want to concentrate on a small number of contenders and make their choices.  I think all the candidates this time were respectable.  No one disgraced himself, but no one changed any minds.  Clearly, the leaders are Trump, Cruz, and Rubio, with Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina getting honorable mention.  I also might add that Jeb Bush is a fine man who was a distinguished governor, and I think he's gotten a bad rap throughout this campaign. 

The key question is still whether Trump's remarkable lead continues, or whether primary voters come to believe he's unelectable in a general election. 

December 15, 2015