SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 8:05 P.M. ET:

CNN DOING A TITANIC – FROM THE FEDERALIST:  Last week, more Americans tuned in to watch re-runs of “Yogi Bear,” “Full House,” and “Friends” on Nick At Nite than to watch Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon’s shows on CNN.  According to cable ratings from the week of June 26-July 2, CNN’s viewership of its primetime shows was ranked significantly lower than its competitors like Fox News and MSNBC, which place first and second respectively. Clocking in at No. 10 on the list, CNN fell behind HGTV, Nick At Nite, History Channel, and ESPN — the sports network that’s been hemorrhaging viewers for months.  It's Trump's fault!  It's Trump's fault.  The First Amendment is in danger!

OBAMA'S MILITARY – FROM THE NEW MANUAL – FROM THE FEDERALIST:  The slide tells soldiers to “understand that you may encounter individuals in barracks, bathrooms, or shower facilities with physical characteristics of the opposite sex despite having the same gender marker in DEERS.” The next bullet point adds, “all Soldiers should be respectful of the privacy and modesty concerns of others. However, transgender Soldiers are not required or expected to modify or adjust their behavior based on the fact that they do not ‘match’ other Soldiers.” This is a first. The military is normally in the business of telling soldiers to “modify or adjust their behavior” all the time.  Consider what these policies mean in real life: Most Army showers look like a prison cell with several showerheads on the wall. Anyone who has dealt with the practical challenges of funneling 30 people through them in ten minutes understands that “privacy” will be incompatible with reality. Female soldiers who feel uncomfortable sharing facilities with individuals who still have “physical characteristics of the opposite sex” will just have to put up with it.  Those are the rules of Obama's military.  I guess women with traditional sensibilities just aren't wanted.

JOB CREATION JUNE – FROM CNBC:  Job creation in the private sector tailed off significantly in June in another sign that the economy is getting closer to full employment, according to a report Thursday from ADP and Moody's Analytics.  Companies added 158,000 positions for the month, a number that economists who released the report said was still strong but stood well below the robust 230,000 number the report showed in May. The reading also was considerably below the 185,000 gain that economists surveyed by Reuters expected, and was revised lower from the initial 253,000 count.  "The job market continues to power forward," Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said in a statement. "At this pace, which is double the rate of labor force growth, the tight labor market will continue getting tighter."  It may well be that we are approaching "full" employment, as economists see it.  The decline is thus not necessarily bad news.  The hiring market has been robust.

July 6, 2017