SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:05 P.M. ET:

GOOD FOR HER – FROM FOX:   A Maryland blogger has been forced to pay a “substantial sum” to Melania Trump as part of a settlement for a defamation lawsuit over an article containing unsubstantiated claims that the first lady once worked as an escort, her lawyers announced Tuesday.  “I posted an article on August 2, 2016 about Melania Trump that was replete with false and defamatory statements about her,” Webster Tarpley, the 71-year-old blogger, said in a statement by Trump’s attorneys, according to the Washington Post.  Trump’s legal team declined to provide the settlement amount. Tarpley, of Gaithersburg, didn’t respond to requests from the Washington Post for comment, but his lawyer confirmed a settlement had been reached.  I'm glad Ms. Trump fought back.  People thought they could use her as a punching bag, and she proved them wrong.

THE END OF EDUCATION – FROM FOX:   Joe Biden has a new title: Ivy League professor.  The former vice president, who has been out of a job exactly 18 days, has landed a new gig at the University of Pennsylvania, where he will teach a new generation the ins and outs of international diplomacy. Biden will lead the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a new center focused principally on diplomacy, foreign policy, and national security. The Center will be located in Washington, but the Scranton-born Biden will also have an office on the Penn campus in Philadelphia.  This is like hiring a math professor who got zero on every test.  Joe's a decent guy, by common consent, but he's been wrong on every major policy issue of our time.  He was even, reportedly, against the bin Laden raid.  What can he teach those kids?

SIMILAR TO AMERICAN VIEWS – FROM THE INDEPENDENT:   A majority of Europeans want a ban on immigration from Muslim-majority countries, a poll has revealed.  An average of 55 per cent of people across the 10 European countries surveyed wanted to stop all future immigration from mainly Muslim countries.  The Chatham House study, conducted before US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning immigration to the US from seven predominantly Muslim countries, found majorities in all but two of the ten states opposed immigration from mainly Muslim countries.  Only 20 per cent disagreed, while 25 per cent said they did not know.   There is probably some bigotry involved, but I suspect fear of terrorism is at the root of the numbers.

February 7, 2017