SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET: 

GOOD FOR GERALDO – FROM THE HILL:   Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera quit his position at Yale University after the high-profile school announced it would remove the name of a pro-slavery lawmaker from one of its residential colleges.  Yale's Calhoun College was named after John C. Calhoun, a 19th-century slavery supporter and white supremacist from South Carolina. Calhoun was the seventh vice president of the United States and attended Yale.  Yale announced plans to rename Calhoun College after Grace Murray Hopper, an alum of the school, a renowned computer scientist and Navy rear admiral, the New York Times reported.  Rivera announced his decision to resign from his position at the university on Sunday over Twitter.  “Resigned yesterday as Associate Fellow of Calhoun College at Yale. Been an honor but intolerant insistence on political correctness is lame,” he tweeted.  Good!  I have nothing good to say about slavery, but it's time to start resisting political correctness.  It's smothering the life out of our colleges.

HEROIC – FROM THE HILL:    Singer and songwriter Joy Villa made a political statement on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Calif., on Sunday evening.  Villa wore a bright blue dress reading “Make America Great Again” across the front of her gown, with “Trump” across the back.  On the red carpet, Villa initially wore a white cover-up over the gown, removing it to reveal the dress with President Trump’s campaign slogan.   Wonderful.  I hope they allow her to work in the industry again.

WHO? – FROM THE HILL:   Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) insisted in an interview broadcast Sunday that her focus is on running for reelection to the Senate, not for the White House in 2020.  “No, I am running for Senate. I’m running for Senate in 2018,” Gillibrand told radio host John Catsimatidis, who asked her about "rumors" that she is considering a White House run.  “I really love my job and I feel like I can make a huge difference for New Yorkers, fighting for them," she said.  It is common for politicians to deflect questions about running for president, particularly when another race is coming up sooner.  Gillibrand, who has served in the Senate since 2009, has been floated as a potential contender for the Democratic nomination both before and after the 2016 election.  The New York senator has been an outspoken critic of many of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and was the lone senator who voted against retired Gen. James Mattis for secretary of Defense.   She's my senator, the other one being Schumer.  Gillibrand is sometimes known as the "hottest senator," and is indeed attractive.  She's also invisible.  She could walk into most places in New York and no one would know who she is.  She's made very little impression in her home state.  The most famous thing about her is that she studied in China during her college freshman summer with the actress Connie Britton, from "Friday Night Lights." 

February 12,  2017