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

MAJOR HUMAN-RIGHTS NEWS – From Breitbart:   On July 7 the Memphis City Council voted unanimously to exhume the body of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest from its 110 year resting place and move it to another location.  The body of Forrest’s wife will be exhumed as well. According to Local Memphis, the council voted to exhume Forrest’s remains from Health Sciences Park on Union Avenue. They plan to sell a statue of Forrest as well–they are thinking of “selling the statue to anyone who wants it.”  Forrest was the founder of the Klan, and therefore not a nice guy.  But this new anti-Confederacy hysteria has become absurd.  It will not improve the life of a single black child, and does not address the real problems holding that child back. 

BERNIE BURNED? – I was wondering when this would come up.  Bernie Sanders is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, but he isn't a Democrat.  From AP:  CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — From his run for mayor of Burlington to numerous campaigns for Congress, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has for more than three decades eschewed traditional party labels in his pursuit of political office, winning election after election as an independent.  As he seeks the presidency as a Democrat, that unwillingness to be pigeonholed could be a liability in New Hampshire. To get on the ballot in the first-in-the-nation primary state, candidates must fill out paperwork that requires them to identify as a registered member of a political party.  "I don't know if it will be a problem," New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said when asked whether Sanders' independent status could keep him off the ballot.  These days, when the president of the United States routinely ignores laws, why should New Hampshire be any different?  I have no doubt they'll find a way for Bernie to get around the law.

THE JOYS OF SOCIALISM – Movie stars used to rush to Venezuela to embrace the new order.  They must be having trouble getting air tickets these days.  From Reuters:  CARACAS (Reuters) - Origami-like boats made from Venezuela's rapidly depreciating bolivar bills sit on the cash register of a small fruit and vegetable store in Caracas.  Cashier Marisol Garcia makes the Bolivar boats to illustrate roaring inflation and the currency's tumble on the black market, where even the country's biggest bill is worth just 16 U.S. cents.  "People ask: 'What's that?' I say: 'Our reality,'" explains Garcia, 44, as she rapidly counts wads of notes customers hand her for bananas, coconut juice and mangos.  "We're sinking."  I anticipate that Barack Obama and his crowd will soon rush to embrace the dear, brotherly Venezuelan victims of Yanqui imperialism. 

July 11,  2015