SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:52 P.M. ET:

BERNIE BURNS HILLARY – From The Hill:   Bernie Sanders has overtaken Hillary Clinton in Iowa just 10 days before the caucuses there, according to a new poll.  A CNN-ORC poll released on Thursday found Sanders receiving 51 percent support in Iowa to Clinton's 43 percent. Clinton led by 18 points in the December version of the poll.  But among Iowans who participated in the 2008 caucuses, the survey found, Clinton leads Sanders 55 percent to 38 percent.  They just don't like Hillary, and, if the FBI doesn't like her, she's toast.

AND AGAIN – From channelnewsasia:  MOGADISHU: At least 19 people were killed when Somalia's Islamist Al Shabaab militants detonated a bomb before storming a popular seaside restaurant in the capital Mogadishu late on Thursday (Jan 21), police said after the operation ended at 3am.  "They killed nearly 20 people, including women and children," Somali police officer Mohamed Abdirahman said, describing it as a "barbaric and brutal attack against innocent civilians".  After a huge explosion, five gunmen burst into the restaurant on Thursday evening as diners were sitting down for their evening meal.  I think we vastly underestimate the potential for a sustained terror drive in the United States.  I don't think Bernie Sanders has the answer. 

KNUCKLING UNDER – From the L.A. Times:  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will weigh new rules intended to encourage more diversity among its membership and its nominations, The Times has learned.  The academy's 51-member Board of Governors has added the diversity issue to the agenda for its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night in response to an outcry over an all-white slate of acting nominees for the second year in a row, according to a person briefed on the matter.  Among the options the board could choose are expanding the number of films in the best picture category to 10 every year, expanding the number of acting nominees in each category and changing the way the academy invites new members by allowing prospective members to put themselves forward, rather than waiting to be asked.  What happens when another group insists on being represented among the nominees?  Will Hollywood gather 'round Hispanics?  Asians?  Older women?  There is no fair way to increase minority nominations.  Minorities will begin to resent each other.  Good movies well cast will eventually result in more diversity, but any gimmick will reduce the value of the Oscar. 

January 21,  2016