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

PARTY OF THE PEOPLE – From Fox:  "Former President Bill Clinton has received nearly $16 million in taxpayer funds since leaving the White House, covering everything from his pension to personnel to benefits -- and renewing questions over how much taxpayers really should spend on ex-presidents who make millions after leaving office.  A new Politico report and analysis examined the payments since he left office in 2001, and claimed it amounts to more than any other ex-president has received. Meanwhile, Politico points out, Clinton has a personal annual income that beats all the other living former presidents. His $15 million advance -- then a record -- for his 2008 memoir was just a sliver of his earnings. According to reports he's made more than $106 million in speaking fees alone since 2001.  Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also has earned millions in speaking fees -- and released a memoir, for which she reportedly got a $14 million advance, last year. In the first 16 months after leaving Foggy Bottom in 2012, she made at total of $12 million in personal income, according to Bloomberg."  It's comforting that they now have enough to pay future legal fees.

HILLARY THREATENED – From Newsmax:  "If former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton refuses to voluntarily comply with requests from the Select Committee on Benghazi, committee chair Trey Gowdy will have no choice but to subpoena her, he said Thursday on Newsmax TV's 'America's Forum.'  'You hate that it gets to that point,' said Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican who is a former district attorney. "You ought to be able to make a request of a former cabinet level official. You shouldn't have to resort to legal process. But certainly, the committee can subpoena people and subpoena documents. Our committee cannot subpoena personal property like cars and boats and servers."

AMERICANS BACK TROOPS TO FIGHT ISIS – From Forbes:  "Over half of Americans would now support the United States sending ground troops to battle ISIS. That’s the result of a YouGov poll conducted in early March. One of the key reasons 53 percent of people are in favour of ground troops is that there are few viable alternatives.  Even though air strikes in Iraq and Syria have stalled the momentum of ISIS militants, less than one in four Americans believe they can be defeated through air power alone. Democrats are divided when it comes to supporting an American ground offensive. However, the same can’t be said of Republicans – 69 percent of them would support a deployment of ground troops while just 23 percent would be opposed."  Americans take this fight more seriously than the Democratic Party does.  They're beginning to see that something is terribly wrong with our defense policies.

AND AMERICANS HAVE LOST FAITH IN GOVERNMENT – From AP:   "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans' confidence in all three branches of government is at or near record lows, according to a major survey that has measured attitudes on the subject for 40 years.  The 2014 General Social Survey finds only 23 percent of Americans have a great deal of confidence in the Supreme Court, 11 percent in the executive branch and 5 percent in Congress. By contrast, half have a great deal of confidence in the military.  The survey is conducted by the independent research organization NORC at the University of Chicago." I'm surprised the numbers are so high.

March 12, 2015