SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 6:31 P.M. ET: 

END OF RUMOR – FROM FOX:   President Trump said Sunday night that he has no plans to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, dispelling a "rumor" that he intends to get rid of Mueller in an apparent attempt to end the Justice Department’s Russia collusion probe.  “No, I don’t,” Trump told reporters who asked upon his return from presidential retreat Camp David whether he intends to fire Mueller.  The latest speculation started after Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said in a local TV interview Friday that “the rumor on the Hill” was Trump was going to fire Mueller at the end of this week, after members leave Washington for Christmas break.  Mueller was appointed earlier this year as a Justice Department special counsel to determine whether Trump associates colluded with Moscow to influence the outcome of the 2016 White House race.  Smart move on Trump's part.  Firing Mueller, however justified, would simply make him a martyr.  Examining his work, and biases, is far more effective.

DISGRACE – FROM FOX:   A complete power outage at the nation’s busiest airport, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, grounded flights Sunday afternoon, threatening to cause a holiday travel nightmare for fliers across the country just over a week before Christmas.  Airport officials said in a news release the power outage has forced the Federal Aviation Administration to suspend outgoing flights and implement a "ground stop" for incoming flights, which "means that flights headed to Atlanta are held on the ground at their departure airport."  You would think that the nation's busiest airport would have back-up power.  This sounds like third-world stuff.

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:    The NYPD has to scrap the 36,000 smartphones it gave cops over the past two years because they’re already obsolete and can’t be upgraded, The Post has learned.  The city bought Microsoft-based Nokia smartphones as part of a $160 million NYPD Mobility Initiative that Mayor Bill de Blasio touted as “a huge step into the 21st century.”  But just months after the last phone was handed out, officials plan to begin replacing them all with brand-new iPhones by the end of the year, sources said.  The move follows Microsoft’s recent decision to stop supporting the operating system that runs the NYPD’s devices and nearly a dozen custom-engineered apps.  Law enforcement sources blamed the boondoggle on NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Information Technology Jessica Tisch, with one saying, “She drove the whole process.”  “Nobody purchases 36,000 phones based on the judgment of one person,” a source said.  New York considers itself a high-tech center, except, apparently, in city government.

December 17, 2017