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

(Thank you, readers, for your kind messages regarding my medical "event.") 

BUT STILL STRUGGLING – From Business Insider:  "...but just how much has Clinton earned in the years since her husband, former President Bill Clinton, left the White House? Financial disclosures filed by Clinton when she served as New York's junior senator and as secretary of state in the Obama administration show her family earned more than $163 million from 2001 until 2012. The disclosures also detailed the taxes paid by the Clintons and how much they gave to charity during those years.   During Clinton's years in the Senate the disclosures, which were published by OpenSecrets.org, included full tax returns filed by her and her husband. These returns detailed the Clintons' total income, charitable gifts they made, and their total taxes paid from 2001 through 2007. For those seven years, the Clintons earned total income of $108,817,646, the vast majority of which came from Bill Clinton's speaking fees. They paid over $33 million in federal income taxes for an effective tax rate of about 31%. The Clintons also gave more than $10 million to charity from 2001 through 2007, which is about 9% of their total income from this period."  This exploitation of public office for profit will not go down well with the American people.

SOCCER IS FOR LIBS! – Well, at least that's what a poll shows.  From the Washington Examiner:  "Partisan politics seems to be everywhere, even when watching soccer and this year's World Cup.  And according to YouGov.com poll published hours before the U.S. played Belgium on Tuesday, liberals and moderates are tuning in far more than conservatives.  YouGov reports that 35 percent of liberals, 34 percent of moderates and just 27 percent of self-described conservatives are watching the World Cup.  As for soccer viewing when the World Cup is not being played, 24 percent of liberals, 21 percent of moderates and a tiny 14 percent of conservatives watch the sport.  Overall, 28 percent of the nation considers the sport the 'most boring to watch.'  Strip politics out of the equation, and just 30 percent of the nation is paying attention to the World Cup, with 70 percent watching it 'not closely' or 'not at at all.'"  I did watch a few matches.  It can be exciting at time, but soccer just doesn't seem to appeal to most Americans, the way football or baseball do.  Why?  I think our favorite sports involve much more strategy.  Just my theory.

WEIRD – There is little that is easy or logical about the Mideast.  From AFP:  "French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday that jihadists spearheading a militant offensive in Iraq have sold oil from captured areas to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  Fabius said the sale was evidence of the 'confusing' nature of the escalating conflict in the Middle East in which Assad and the jihadists are in theory on opposing sides.  The rebels, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), declared a 'caliphate," or Islamist state, straddling Iraq and Syria at the weekend.  'We have proofs that when ISIL has taken over oil it has sold oil to the (Assad) regime,' Fabius told a news conference in New Delhi, without elaborating."  Trading with the enemy is a felony here.  I guess in the Mideast it's a pastime.

NEW RELIGIOUS DISCOVERY – From The Politico:  "Rep. Luis Gutiérrez said Tuesday that President Barack Obama has the power to 'heal' undocumented immigrants.  'If [Republicans] want to come back and discuss [reform], fine,' the Illinois Democrat said on MSNBC. 'But in the interim period, I believe the president of the United States has already in statute, in the law, the ability to heal and put in a safe harbor millions of undocumented immigrants while the Congress of the United States finally decides it’s going to take action.'"  Next, Obama walks on water.  After that, maybe Thursday, he converts water to wine.  Check it out.

July 1, 2014