SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:58 P.M. ET: 

PATRONIZING – From Truth Revolt:  "President Obama’s announcement of his immigration executive order Thursday night is apparently for Latino ears only. Though the White House claims that they sent out 'feelers' to the major English-speaking networks, they didn’t bother sending an official request for coverage. Instead, only Latino networks Univision and Telemundo are airing the president’s 10-minute announcement.  As The Washington Post notes, the president’s 8 p.m. announcement comes at a particularly opportune time for reaching a 'captive audience of Hispanic television viewers': the 15th annual Latin Grammys, which airs on Univision starting at 7 p.m. Last year around 9.8 million viewers tuned into the awards ceremony. Univision is doing its part to make sure the president's message reaches its millions of viewers by temporarily postponing the show to broadcast Obama’s address."  The patronizing attitude is so blatant.  If I were Hispanic, I'd be outraged.

AND MAYBE CHE COULD BE VICE PRESIDENT – New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio is going bonkers, as expected.  From the New York Post:  "WASHINGTON — New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that Hillary Clinton needs to run to the left on a message of economic populism to win the presidency in 2016.  It’s 'necessary' for Clinton to address the crisis of income inequality and de Blasio said he’d be 'honored' to help her or any Democrat brush up on messaging.  'I don’t think we’ve had the opportunity to hear from her on this new (post-recession) reality,' de Blasio said at a Politico breakfast in Washington.  The mayor called liberal icon Sen. Elizabeth Warren an 'indispensable' voice and said he’s 'hopeful' that Clinton could find hers."  Why don't I think that was a ringing endorsement?  Apparently, not many in the Dem party feel a "wanting of Hillary."  Hillary may get the picture before too long.

MARY SINKING – Things just get worse for Mary Landrieu in the runup to Louisiana's Senate primary runoff on December 6th.  From Rasmussen:  "Rasmussen Reports’ first survey of the Louisiana Senate runoff shows Republican challenger Bill Cassidy comfortably on his way to joining the new GOP Senate majority.  Cassidy posts a 15-point lead – 56% to 41%- over incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu among Likely Louisiana Voters in our latest statewide telephone survey. Just three percent (3%) are undecided. Landrieu edged Cassidy, a U.S. congressman, 42% to 41% on Election Day earlier this month, with eight candidates officially in the race. But under Louisiana’s so-called “jungle primary” rules, the contest will now be decided by a December 6 runoff because no candidate cleared the 50% mark."  Republicans will have a solid majority, and may be joined by some moderate Dems on some issues.  But overriding a presidential veto takes 67 votes in the Senate, and two thirds of the House, and I don't see that in the cards.

REMARKABLE – Using government funding, a company called IntegenX has developed a $250,000 machine that can analyze DNA and determine if there are any matches in the national database, and both in less than 90 minutes.  Not many years ago, this kind of work took months.  In most areas of the country it still takes days.  This could be a remarkable tool for law enforcement, as valuable for excluding suspects as for finding the right person.   I'll bet that, within 20 years, much cheaper versions of machines like this will be, like photo machines, in drugstores, and do the DNA matching in less than 15 minutes.  Wives could test DNA found in their bedrooms against their husbands'.  No match, big trouble.

November 20, 2014