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

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED TO PARADISE – FROM CBC:  The Ontario basic income pilot project is coming to an end, says Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod.  MacLeod said Tuesday that the project was expensive, and "clearly not the answer for Ontario families."  She said the ministry would have "more details at a later date" about how the government would end the project.  Close to 4,000 people were enrolled in the basic income pilot program in Thunder Bay, Lindsay, Hamilton, Brantford and Brant County.  The pilot project started in April 2017. It was originally set to last three years, and explore the effectiveness of providing a basic income to those living on low incomes — whether they were working or not.  People learn that handouts do not build an economy, or provide more jobs, or provide any incentives.  But don't tell Bernie Sanders or our little Evita here in New York.

AND IN THE REAL WORLD – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:  A Russian national or any other noncitizen can easily influence a U.S. election by simply registering to vote in California — just ask Elizaveta Shuvalova.  Ms. Shuvalova said she didn’t even know her name was added to the San Francisco voter rolls in 2012, when she was a 21-year-old Russian citizen living legally in the U.S. but ineligible to vote.  “I’ve never registered for anything in my entire life,” said Ms. Shuvalova, who became a U.S. citizen early last year. “This is news to me.”  The Washington Times obtained a San Francisco County voter log that detailed Ms. Shuvalova’s registration history and presented the document to her.  It showed that she signed up as a Democrat in July 2012 and that her registration was canceled in May 2016 after she told election officials she wasn’t a citizen. Her registration, as a Republican, was reactivated in March 2017.  Do you feel that this may be the tip of the iceberg? 

AND THE WEIRDNESS GOES ON – FROM FOX:   Organizers of a long-running initiative to secure California’s secession from the United States now say they want to give away nearly half of the state, including all of its federal land, to form an “autonomous Native American nation.”  “Calexit,” as the proposal for California’s secession is known, was given the green light by the state government earlier this year to begin collecting signatures to place the measure on the November ballot. Advocates had until mid-October to gather 365,880 signatures of registered voters to put it up for a statewide vote.  But the revamp announced by Calexit’s founders on Tuesday adds an additional objective: constructing “the first ever autonomous Native American nation in North America,” by giving Native Americans all federal lands in the state, running from the border with Mexico to the state boundary shared with Oregon.  And what if Native Americans don't actually want this?  Have these white egotists ever consulted them?

July 31, 2018