SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:23 P.M. ET: 

CONFUSION – The prime minister of Malaysia announced this morning, with the ring of definitiveness, that the missing airliner went down in the southern Indian Ocean and that all passengers and crew were dead.  But the British satellite company that actually did the math later said that the airliner is "most probably" down in the southern Indian Ocean.  Once again we wonder about Malaysian announcements.  It was also revealed that the estranged wife of the pilot, who still lived with him, has not been interviewed about him since the disappearance "for cultural reasons."  Ah, the contributions of multiculturalists.

RESPONSE TO PUTIN – The Western allies announce with vigor that Russia has been suspended from meetings of the G8, an economic consortium.  That's like being suspended from the high school student government.  Also, to really get tough, the Western allies told us they will not attend a G8 meeting that was scheduled for Sochi, Russia.  So there!  Guess they'll have to get their caviar somewhere else.  No further sanctions were announced. 

PUSHING HER OFF THE CLIFF – During the last presidential campaign, the Dems ran an ad suggesting that Mitt Romney wanted to push little old ladies off a cliff.  Now the Dems are targeting their own little old lady – none other than Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Ginsburg.  It seems many Dem commentators are hinting broadly that she should resign from the Court before the November election, so that a Democratic Senate can confirm her presumably younger successor, to be selected by President Obama.  So far, the justice hasn't responded to the hints, which have been printed in a number of columns.  I'm guessing she's fuming.

THE AIRLINER – The U.S. is expanding its efforts to help find the missing Malaysian airliner.  From the Washington Times:  "The Pentagon is shuttling specialized military equipment overseas to aid efforts to locate the black box recorder which could provide critical clues to what happened the night that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing.  U.S. Pacific Command Commander NavyAdm. Samuel J. Locklear has issued an order to ship the equipment to the western Australia town of Perth in case a debris site for the Malaysian plane is located within the next few weeks. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters Monday that a 'Towed Pinger Locator 25' as well as a Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle were placed on a chartered jet and flown out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York."  They only have a few weeks before the batteries on the plane's pingers go dead.

March 24, 2014