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

AND ANOTHER – FROM FOX:    NBC paid thousands of dollars to an assistant producer on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" nearly two decades ago after she brought a sexual harassment complaint against the longtime host, The Daily Caller reported Saturday.  The website, citing two sources, reported that NBC paid the woman $40,000 to settle her claim against Matthews in 1999. An NBC spokesperson told The Daily Caller the network paid a smaller, unspecified amount as part of a severance package.  The woman complained to executives that Matthews, now 71, had made inappropriate comments to her and made inappropriate jokes about her to others.  An MSNBC spokesman told The Daily Caller that Matthews had been slapped with a formal reprimand at the time the woman made her complaint. The website reported that the network decided that the complaints were "inappropriate and juvenile," but were not intended as propositions.  We recall how Matthews said a tingle went down his leg every time he heard Barack Obama speak.  Apparently, he had other tingles, and they cost him.

LET THE NUTTINESS BEGIN – FROM THE DAILY STAR:  A recent survey reveals a third of all workers believe automatons will be doing their job within the next 15 years.  The poll of 1,000 people also showed 57% of workers think these robots should be taxed in some form.  Ed Molyneux, the CEO of cloud accounting firm FreeAgent, which carried out the survey, said the research shows the majority of people think the future of the workplace involves robots.  But he said statistics showing 69% of people in the UK would be “happy” to work for a “robot boss” indicate employees are warming to the idea of automatons in the office.  I wonder if you could sue a robot for sexual harassment.  The lawyers are at work.

BORING – FROM DEADLINE:   The specter of Watergate has loomed large over Washington, D.C. recently — great timing for a television series looking at the scandal. Bridge of Spies writer Matt Charman has partnered with George Clooney and Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures partner Grant Heslov for Watergate, an eight-part limited series. We hear that the project has landed at Netflix for development in a competitive situation.   This all involves the dream that President Trump will be impeached.  The left is in its glory.  I want to see that glory tarnished.

December 16, 2017