SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:48 P.M. ET:

TRULY BLACK FRIDAY – From Fox:  Two civilians and one police officer were killed Friday after a five-hour standoff at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood building that ended with the gunman's surrender.  The University of Colorado in Colorado Springs police department identified the officer killed as 44-year-old Garrett Swasey, a six-year veteran of the force.  Nine other people, including five police officers, were shot and are in good condition, police said.  Lt. Catherine Buckley of the Colorado Springs Police Department said the gunman, described as wearing a long coat and armed with a rifle, gave up after officers inside the building shouted at him. He previously had been firing at police who entered the facility.  We don't know what the gunman's motive was – opposition to Planned Parenthood, personal dispute, robbery, or what.  That hasn't stopped Hillary Clinton from tweeting her support of Planned Parenthood, immediately politicizing a tragedy.

NOT MY KIND OF TOWN – From Breitbart:   As of November 23, there had been 2703 shootings which resulted in 440 deaths year-to date in heavily gun-controlled Chicago.  That is an increase of approximately 400 shootings over the same time last year.  The Chicago Tribune reported these numbers as part of their broader coverage of the 11 people shot, five killed, over the course of last weekend alone. Half of those wounded were shot on November 22 “between about 12:25 p.m. and 8:40 p.m.” Three of those killed were shot on that same day, between those same hours as well.  It is worth noting that while this violence proves the impotency of gun control in general, it is especially damning when juxtaposed with some of the most recent gun control endeavors in particular.  The standard leftist line is to blame the gun manufacturers – the same manufacturers that supply guns to Vermont, with its remarkably low murder rate.  In Chicago politics you can't tell the truth about the role that inner-city culture plays, even though it is obvious. 

RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT OF MARS – From the New York Post:   Our moon might not be the only thing in outer space made of cheese.  Images taken by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover show that the Red Planet appears to have a mouse problem, according to an amateur astronomer.  The image looks like a “possible gigantic mouse or other rodent on Mars in Gale Crater sitting on a ridge plain as day,” Joe White writes on his YouTube channel, ArtAlienTV.  He quickly adds the more plausible explanation: that the object is “probably an optical illusion.”  Still, White insists, “other people including myself have found rodents up there before so it could be. Estimated size 2 – 3 feet.”  The Curiosity rover has spent more than three years studying the planet, and whether it can support life — rodent or otherwise.  Hillary Clinton is seeking endorsement from the Mars mouse.  She points to her years of service in support of other rodents.

November 27, 2015