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

SAD – Monica Crowley, the distinguished conservative commentator, has withdrawn her acceptance of a national-security position with the Trump White House after being accused of multiple cases of plagiarism.  Her withdrawal announcement made no reference to the charges, simply saying that she wanted to explore other opportunities.  It was clear to anyone with a publishing background that the charges were extremely serious and well documented.  They included assertions that she had plagiarized part of her Ph.D. thesis at Columbia.   One wonders if Crowley, who has done fine work on television and in print, can recover from this blow.  My own assessment, which is surely tentative, is that she can't. Plagiarism is considered sinful among writers and editors.  Multiple cases will almost certainly end a career.  It is very sad.  She's been one of my favorite commentators. 

THIS IS A SPORT? – FROM ESPN:   The Super Bowl ticket resale market slumped minutes after the Dallas Cowboys lost to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.  Before Sunday's playoff game, the cheapest ticket to Super Bowl LI on StubHub was $4,195. Shortly after the Cowboys were defeated 34-31 on a field goal as time ran out, the get-in price was down 20 percent to $3,349. Tickets in the lower end zone dropped 18 percent to $4,307.  Whaa?  Would you look at those prices?  I mean, who can afford to go to these games?  What kind of a sport is this?  Are children being starved to pay for tickets?  At any rate, I'd rather be watching at home, with my own supply of popcorn and ice cream.

MAJOR CIVIL RIGHTS ADVANCE – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Hollywood activist Ashley Judd wants media companies to issue “standard issue” black emojis – those little smiling or sad faces you see in e-mails and other messages – as a way of combating “white privilege.”  A Facebook post on Tuesday promoting Jan. 21’s “Women’s March on Washington” turned into a lecture on race for Mrs. Judd’s nearly 300,000 followers. The long-time Democratic Party supporter and activist allotted her “evening interaction” to the prevalence of “white/yellow-ish” icons as in indicator of “white privilege.”  “If you’re other than white, you have to scroll to search for an emoji of color that more closely resembles your experince [sic],” the actor wrote. “A little thing, perhaps. But … what if emojis, came, standard issue, in black? So WE whites had to scroll to find a color that more accurately resembled US? Multiply that times the incalculable. … And that gives me a glimpse of what it may be like to be a person of [color] in a white-centric world. Everything set to the standard of whiteness, everything else a variation thereof.”  The former Golden Globe nominee then shifted to her Twitter account to inform another 280,000 followers that yellow emojis are allegedly “code for white.”  I know this will mark a major step forward in race relations and social justice.  And I will never buy a white car again.

January 16, 2017