SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

MAJOR ETHICS ADVANCE – From CNN:  A Missouri lawmaker introduced a bill Wednesday that would require lobbyists to report "sexual relations" with state legislators as a "gift" in their disclosures to the state ethics commission.  "We've already got a lobbyist gift reporting requirement and so that's how I worked it in there, by treating it as a definition of gift," Rep. Bart Korman, a Republican from High Hill, told CNN on Thursday. "I hope it deters any of that activity, but that if activity does occur, it's at least transparent."  Yes, I'm sure lobbyists will follow that law to the letter.  I feel cleaner already.

THE FANTASY CONTINUES – From PJ Media:   Secretary of State John Kerry marked the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo and Jewish market attacks in Paris without mentioning terrorism...."We honor the victims of this tragedy and share the sadness of their loss," Kerry said in a statement Thursday evening. "Their legacy endures as a challenge and inspiration to all of us. Charlie Hebdo continues to publish, and journalists around the world continue in their essential mission to tell the stories that people everywhere need to hear."  What a sincere, warm statement.  Choke.  It wasn't a "tragedy," it was a terrorist attack.  We saw the same illusions before World War II.

NOT MUCH OF A COP – From AFP:   BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The police chief of the German city of Cologne was suspended Friday for failing to stop mob violence at New Year’s Eve celebrations, as authorities said many suspects were asylum seekers.  Germany, unsettled by a record refugee and migrant influx, has reacted with shock to news that women had to run a frightful gauntlet of groping, insults and thefts in an aggressive and drunken crush of around 1,000 men, described by witnesses as mostly of Arab and North African appearance.  Cologne’s police chief Wolfgang Albers, 60, was suspended from active duty in order to “restore public confidence” in the police force, said Ralf Jaeger, interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state.  Can we suspend Barack Obama? 

ONLY IN NEW YORK – From CBS:   NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — The New York Police Department will strengthen safeguards against illegal surveillance of Muslims in terrorism investigations and install a civilian representative on a committee that reviews the investigations under the terms of a settlement of two high-profile civil rights lawsuits, lawyers said Thursday.  The announcement of the deal formally ended litigation over accusations that the nation’s largest police department was illegally infiltrating mosques and spying on Muslims based on their religion.  This occurs at the same time that the NYPD is placing its officers on high alert, fearing attempted assassinations of cops by Islamic radicals.  So-called "civil rights" groups have not shown much interest in that.  There was an attempted murder of a police officer in Philadelphia Thursday night.  The alleged assailant claimed he was honoring ISIS and Islam. 

January 8, 2016