SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

THUMBS DOWN – FROM THE L.A. TIMES:  Hollywood is celebrating the end of 2017 with astronomical sales from “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” which is on track to soon exceed $1 billion in global ticket sales and eventually become the biggest movie of the year. But that won’t be enough to write a happy storyline for the industry.  Although movie ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada are expected to dip just below last year's record of $11.38 billion, the number of tickets sold is projected to drop 4% to 1.26 billion — the lowest level since 1995, according to preliminary estimates from studio executives.  The falloff in ticket sales can mostly be explained by a handful of movies that flopped, especially during the dreary summer season that posted the worst results in more than two decades.  The excuses will start to flow, but maybe better movies, including some that appeal to those over twelve, might help the situation.

WHAT?  HOW CAN THIS BE? – FROM DAILYSTAR:  The coldest winter in five years has been forecast for Britain, with “widespread snow” and brutal lows of -17C across Christmas expected to be a “shock to the system”.  During the first two weeks of winter, the UK was crippled by an onslaught of cold snaps that brought heavy snow, hazardous ice and sub-zero temperatures virtually everywhere.  Speaking to Daily Star Online, climate and weather experts predict one cold spell a week until the end of winter in the UK, warning “you have been cool and it will get colder”.  In the coming years, David Dilley, CEO of Global Weather Oscillations, believes winters will only become “more intense” in the UK due to a combination of “dangerous” climate factors.  His research shows that by 2019, Earth will enter a natural 120-year cooling cycle that happens roughly every 230 years, bucking the warming trend.  Do not allow Al Gore to read this.  Let him live quietly.

DEMOCRATS FOR TRUMP? – FROM FOX:   The chairman of Democrats for Trump reacted to repeated calls for the president's impeachment and obstructionist behavior by members of his party.
"I think it's Trump derangement," former New York City Council President Andrew Stein said on "Fox & Friends."  Ed Henry played video of Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) introducing articles of impeachment and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) telling a crowd that President Trump's motives and actions "are contemptible."
"Impeach 45 every day," she later said.  Stein said he doesn't know why his fellow Democrats think Trump is a "bad guy."  "The deep state - Clinton [and] Obama holdovers - they're trying to delegitimize this president and they want to impeach him," Stein said, calling the rhetoric "a big mistake."  "It's nonsense," Stein said, praising Trump's tax cut law and stating his hope that his fellow Democratic New Yorker, Sen. Charles Schumer, will help Trump with infrastructure legislation.  I think it's a vain hope.  The Democratic Party today is a far-left party, not the responsibly liberal party of Andy Stein. 

December 23,  2017