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

ESCALATION IN SYRIA – FROM AP:  WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military on Sunday shot down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet that bombed local forces aligned with the Americans in the fight against Islamic State militants, an action that appeared to mark a new escalation of the conflict. The U.S. had not shot down a Syrian regime aircraft before Sunday's confrontation, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. While the U.S. has said since it began recruiting, training and advising what it calls moderate Syrian opposition forces to fight IS that it would protect them from potential Syrian government retribution, this was the first time it resorted to engaging in air-to-air combat to make good on that promise. Unlike Obama, Trump keeps promises to allies.  Makes for better allies.

SICKNESS – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   The Young Democratic Socialists at the University of Georgia are in a bit of trouble after they … “elaborated” on a professor’s tweet which stated House Republicans “should be lined up and shot.”  The YDS apparently quoted Art Institute of Washington professor John Griffin‘s tweet, and then added “This is absolutely outrageous! House Republicans should NOT be shot! They should be guillotined.”  According to The Red & Black, the YDS Twitter account is now protected; however, a screencap of their death-wishing tweet was preserved by Campus Reform.  After the YDS remarks were featured in articles on The Blaze and the Associated Press, university police and the UGA Office of Student Conduct began investigating.  Apparently the YDS is distancing itself from the university, the better to avoid university discipline.  Another moment in campus maturity.

THE MARCH OF DUMBNESS – FROM PJMEDIA:  It's hard to determine whether some liberals are tone deaf or just downright mean. MSNBC hostess Joy-Ann Reid almost certainly falls into the latter category.  Reid was on with NAACP board member Rev. William J. Barber II  when the conversation turned to Rep. Steve Scalise, who was lying in a hospital bed in critical condition at the time.  The host and her guest accused Scalise of "extremism" because he wants marriage to be between a man and a woman, he voted for the House health care bill, and he co-sponsored a bill to repeal the ban on semi-automatic weapons.  No, really.  Taste, they name is not MSNBC.

June 18,  2017