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

OH, THE EXCITEMENT! – FROM AP:  WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Joe Biden is tiptoeing toward a potential presidential run in 2020, even broaching the possibility during a recent gathering of longtime foreign policy aides.  Huddled in his newly opened office steps from the U.S. Capitol, Biden began a planning meeting for his new diplomacy center by addressing the elephant in the room. He said he was keeping his 2020 options open, considering it a real possibility. He insisted he had made no decision, and didn't need to yet, according to five people who either attended the meeting or were briefed on it by those who did.  Biden is a decent man, and people sympathize with him because he's had a very tough private life.  But, bottom line, he has exhibited horrible judgment in foreign policy and would be a real danger if he became president.

ABSURD – FROM THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL:  PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Tuition, room and board and fees at Brown University will rise to $70,266 starting in fall 2018, an increase of 4 percent.  But 45 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid, and Brown meets 100 percent of every undergraduate's demonstrated financial need through a combination of grants, scholarships and work-study programs, according to Brown spokesman Brian Clark.  The university's budget, approved over the weekend by the Corporation of Brown University, also expands undergraduate financial aid by nearly 11 percent, to $135.4 million, according to the university.  There are two key issues:  1)  How much of the money is going to the diversity racket, to pay off every aggrieved group with a "center" or "Institute for the study of..." and 2) How is financial aid being used to shape the student body, keeping out some and preferring others? 

THIS IS SUCH A RELIEF – FROM AP:   A story claiming that Fidel Castro was the father of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not true. The Canadian government denied it, Cuba has never claimed it and Trudeau's parents never visited Cuba until several years after Justin Trudeau was born.  The Feb. 1 suicide of Castro's oldest son, Fidelito, spurred the most recent report on several sites, claiming that Fidelito left a suicide note referring to Justin Trudeau as his half-brother. A theory that Castro was Trudeau's father was also shared widely on social media after Castro's death in 2016, when Trudeau caused an uproar over remarks praising the late Cuban leader.  The Canadian government denied the reports this week. Justin Trudeau was born on Dec. 25, 1971, to the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife, Margaret.  I'm so glad this is settled.  It was really keeping me up at night. 

February 17, 2018