SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE: 

TAKING IT SERIOUSLY – FROM BRITAIN'S TELEGRAPH: Millions of residents of Tokyo are to take part in evacuation drills simulating a North Korean nuclear attack on the Japanese capital.  The national and city governments are to carry out a series of exercises between January and March to prepare for a potential attack on Tokyo, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported, the first time that a major Japanese city will have carried out responses to a simulated attack.  Towns facing the Korean Peninsula have in recent months conducted similar drills, with residents instructed to seek shelter in response to sirens warning of an imminent missile strike.  But the Japanese government has until now resisted calls for major cities to carry out similar exercises on the grounds that they would alarm the public.  Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, has also called in local governments throughout the country to identify underground facilities or buildings that are sufficiently sturdy to withstand a missile attack and to designate those facilities as shelters.   Wise planning.  They also know who the enemy is, unlike our Obama administration, which had some difficulty figuring it out.

RUSSIA KICKED – FROM SKY NEWS:  Russia has been banned from taking part in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea due to concerns over doping.  However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said that individual "Russian clean athletes" will still be able to take part as neutral competitors at the event in Pyeongchang from 9-25 February next year.  The president of the Russian skating union has described the decision as "offensive and insulting".  Banning an entire country from the Games is an unprecedented move for the IOC.  It comes following a 17-month doping investigation which concluded that there was a "systemic manipulation of the anti-doping rules and system in Russia".   The International Olympic Committee is rarely deserving of praise, but it looks like it got this one right.   

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN BROADCASTING – FROM DEADLINE:   CNN’s Christiane Amanpour is stepping in to fill some of Charlie Rose’s late-night time slot on PBS and WNET.  Amanpour will be offered to PBS stations on an interim basis, from 11-11:30 PM. PBS and the flagship NY station are working on plans to fill the 11:30 PM half hour left open when PBS severed tied with Rose. Amanpour on PBS will launch on New York’s PBS station, starting today, Monday, December 4, and will roll out on PBS stations beginning December 11 at 11 PM.  Amanpour will continue to air on CNN International weekdays at 2 PM and 5 PM ET.  Finally, a TV program that will cure my insomnia.  I actually didn't know she was still around.

December 5, 2017