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

TOASTED MARY – The Senate rejected the Keystone Pipeline by one vote today, crushing Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who hoped to get the project passed as a way of boosting her chances in her runoff election December 6th.  Polls show her trailing Republican Bill Cassidy by double digits, so they will almost certainly lose her seat.  The victory for pipeline opponents is only symbolic, though.  The new Senate, which will be controlled by Republicans, will vote on the project after it's seated in January, and pass it.  Then, of course, Obama will decide whether to veto a project popular with the American people.

GOOD MOVE – From Powerline:  "The House of Representative has chosen law professor Jonathan Turley to represent it in a lawsuit against the Obama administration. The suit challenges changes the administration made to Obamacare without congressional authorization.  The hiring of Turley has been praised by some conservatives because Turley is a liberal. He voted for Obama in 2008, supports national health care, and so forth.  Turley’s status as a liberal may, indeed, be one reason why the Republican House hired him. The leadership may believe that having Turley on the case dispels the view that the lawsuit is a partisan crusade."  I can't wait for the courtroom fireworks.  Get your popcorn now.

SUCH CLASS – From Fox:  "Muslim groups have stepped up efforts to co-opt protests over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., with a drive to equate the teen’s death to the death of a radical Islamist shot during an FBI raid in 2009, a Washington-based security watchdog group is warning.  Using social media, conference calling and traditional outreach methods, leaders of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are portraying Brown and Detroit mosque leader Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah as African-American victims of police targeting, according to the Washington-based Center for Security Policy (CSP). In a conference call organized by CAIR-linked 'Muslims for Ferguson,' a CAIR official called Abdullah a 'Shaheed,' or martyr, and said both he and Brown were victims of a national security apparatus that had 'completely gone wild' and engaged in 'demonizing and criminalizing Muslims.'"  This can get very ugly.  I'd love to see how CNN justifies Muslim involvement.  I'm sure Christiane Amanpour will have a deep answer.

DON'T FORGET UKRAINE – From AFP:  "Moscow (AFP) - Germany's foreign minister said Tuesday he was not optimistic about an end to the conflict in Ukraine because of a 'dangerous' escalation of fighting in the east.  Frank-Walter Steinmeier made the downbeat assessment after NATO's secretary-general spoke of a 'very serious build-up' of troops, artillery and air defence systems inside Ukraine and on the Russian side of the border.  Steinmeier was the first senior European minister to visit Moscow since July, in a sign of how relations between the West and Russia have dived to a post-Cold War low over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.  'There are no grounds for optimism in the current situation,' Steinmeier said at a press conference after talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow."  Notice the deep concern in Washington and in the Obama press.  This has the potential to blow up in our faces.  Actual combat in that region, with Russian involvement, is a lit fuse.  Someone tell Obama.  Someone tell him where Ukraine is.

November 18, 2014