SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE:

A SIGN OF THE TIMES:  From CBS:   NEW YORK -- Mayor Eric Adams didn't hold back Monday when asked about a decision from Chase Bank to close some of their city ATMs during overnight hours, citing crime and vagrancy concerns.  Customers didn't hold back, either.  Using an ATM is exactly what Sunny Ng wanted to do last Tuesday night, but when he tried to enter a Chase ATM vestibule in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the only paper he got was a warning that, for now, the once 24-hour ATMs will close at 10 p.m.  "The advantage of using Chase is that they have so many ATMs, and so for it to close at night is kind of unbelievable," Ng said.  So Ng got online and complained to Chase in a tweet, and the company replied, apologizing and saying it has decided to close some ATM vestibules not just at 10 p.m., but at 5 p.m. or 6 p.m., depending on the location. The bank even gave a reason: rising crime and vagrancy in vestibules that were 24/7..."Those are all indicators, when you have to lock up supplies, when you have to close early due to people sleeping inside," Adams said.  The mayor said the city is working to provide care to homeless people in need of help, and also said the city needs to create an environment where people feel safe.  "People don't want to walk into their ATM and see someone urinating, see someone screaming and yelling. People don't want to go through that," Adams said. "And that is what I am saying I need to stop, because I don't want my ATMs closing down. I don't want people leaving our city."  The mayor gets it right.  People are leaving New York in droves.  What has to be closed next, in New York and elsewhere, before people realize that their city is dying?  The problem is that the hard left, which controls the mayor's Democratic Party, won't do a thing for public safety.  It's against the party line.

A RISING GOP STAR GETS IT RIGHT AGAIN:  From Fox:   Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed an unprecedented school choice bill called the Students First Act on Tuesday, allowing any Iowa student to use public money to pay for private school tuition or other expenses.  "For the first time, we will fund students not systems!" Reynolds said on Twitter.  "Parents, not the government, can now choose the education setting best suited to their child regardless of their income or zip code. Iowa has affirmed that educational freedom belongs to all!"  After the Students First Act was passed, Iowa is now the third state to pass a school choice measure that expands to every student in the state.  "This is one of the best vehicles for providing families with more options, since parents can use the ESAs for private school tuition, tutoring, textbooks, curricular materials, special-needs therapy and more. We’ve already seen success from ESAs in Arizona," Jason Bedrick, a research fellow in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital.  "Although Iowa is the 3rd state to pass universal school choice, it is the state with the heaviest foot on the accelerator. Although Arizona was first state to pass school choice for all families last year, their program had been around for over a decade. Gov. Reynolds just signed into law a program that includes most families in its first year and automatically expands to all families after two years," American Federation for Children Senior Fellow Corey DeAngelis told Fox News Digital.  The latest example of a significant passing of school choice legislation happened in Arizona under Gov. Doug Ducey, who signed the most "monumental" education savings account program in the United States.  Good for Kim!  She's an excellent governor and would be an excellent vice-presidential candidate in 2024.

January 24, 2023