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

A MODERN BLACKLIST – FROM FOX:   Support for the current president of the United States forced two Chicago music store owners to close their business because of threats and negative publicity they were receiving.  Suzzanne Monk and Alexander Duvel own "Worlds of Music Chicago" but will be shuttering their brick-and-mortar business in April because of extenuating circumstances, they told "Fox & Friends Weekend."  Monk said she visited the University of Illinois-Chicago to attend the infamous Trump rally that was ultimately shut down by protesters last summer, and she and her husband later posted about the experience online...Since then, she and Duvel have received online threats and a decline in business, and that word of the duo's political beliefs have led customers to be fearful of recommending or even visiting their shop...Monk said that even people the two have known for a long time have "decide[d] we're white supremacists, we're xenophobes, not out of any evidence... only evidence that we have voted for Donald Trump."  This is modern McCarthyism, nothing less.  Yet, notice the silence of so-called "civil libertarians."  What hypocrites.  What phonies.

BUT SOME STRIKE BACK – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  A Philadelphia man is suing a New York City cocktail lounge over allegations the bartenders refused to serve him because he was wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, the New York Post reported.  Accountant Greg Piatek said he was visiting "The Happiest Hour" near Greenwich Village after a tour of the 9/11 Memorial with some friends, when he took a seat at the bar wearing President Donald Trump's signature campaign hat.  The first bartender served him a beverage, but when he called for a second he was ignored, Piatek, 30, said.  One of Piatek's friends got a bartender's attention and asked that he be served, only to be asked whether the man's hat was "a joke." "I can't believe you would support someone so terrible and you must be terrible as a person," another bartender yelled at him.  "Don't even try to order from me," Piatek said she told him.  The bar's owner reportedly told Piatek that "anyone who supports Trump... is not welcome here, and you need to leave right now because we won't serve you."  I don't know what the law is on this, but I hope Piatek finds a way to win his suit.

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   West Virginia University-Parkersburg stopped giving students placement exams for math and English this year, as well as eliminating remedial math and English courses altogether.  The hope is that a less challenging workload will raise the rate at which WVUP students stay in school and eventually graduate, which might burnish WVUP’s reputation more than it benefits students.  I wonder if the "educators" asked potential employers what they think of this.

March 19,  2017