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

NOT SURPRISING – FROM FOX DENVER:   DENVER -- Gun sales are surging in the wake of Sunday’s deadly mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. The tragedy is generating new debate over gun control reform and the right to bear arms.  Gun shops typically see a spike in customers after mass shootings. But this time, many are seeing shoppers they’ve never really seen before: More gays and lesbians.  George Horne, the owner of The Gun Room, Denver’s oldest firearms dealer, said Tuesday business is booming at  his store.  "For this time of year I’d say its three to four times what we normally have," he said.  Background checks that once took minutes can now take hours. It's a sales surge similar to what happened after Sandy Hook and the Aurora theater shootings...The Pink Pistols is a national gun club for gays and lesbians. It saw its membership soar from about 1,500 members on Saturday to 3,500 on Monday.  Common sense tells people that they want to protect themselves.  Why can't our current administration understand that?

OPRAH SPEAKS, AND WHO CARES? – FROM ET:  Oprah Winfrey is throwing her support behind Hillary Clinton.  Winfrey spoke with ET's Nancy O'Dell at the premiere of her new OWN drama, Greenleaf, and the media mogul opened up about the possibility of America electing its first female president.  "I really believe that is going to happen," said Winfrey, 62. "It's about time that we make that decision."  "Regardless of your politics, it’s a seminal moment for women," she continued. "What this says is, there is no ceiling, that ceiling just went boom! It says anything is possible when you can be leader of the free world."  Who cares about Hillary's crooked history of failure, and her accepting millions from some of the worst dictatorships on Earth?  This is about race, gender, and ethnicity.  We watch as the United States declines further.

FASCINATING – FROM HOLLYWOOD REPORTER:   Lady Gaga is ready for her big-screen close-up.  The singer is in talks to star opposite Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born, the remake that Cooper also will direct.  The movie, based on the 1937 film starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, centers on a movie star who helps an aspiring young actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral. It was subsequently remade in 1954 by director George Cukor, with Judy Garland and James Mason starring, and again in 1976, with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson headlining.  Fascinating.  Great movie, with a long history.  Don't underestimate Lady Gaga.  Beneath all the tacky publicity, she's really very talented.  I look forward to her rendition of "The Man That Got Away," by Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin, originally sung by Judy Garland in the 1954 version.

June 16,  2016