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

BULLETIN – FROM THE HILL:   Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said Wednesday night he and President Trump have come to an “agreement in principle” on a plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare, just one day before a historic House vote on the bill.  “The president and I came to an agreement in principle,” Meadows said during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, adding that he was still ironing out a few final details with the White House.  “I think what we're trying to do now is make sure that our agreement is actually something that can be executed in a way that passes the Senate,” he added. “There's still work to be done, but I can tell you that the president is all engaged."  If true, this is enormously important, and a testament to the president's skills as a negotiator. Stand by for more tomorrow.

A BAD DAY FOR POLICE – IN BOTH LONDON AND IN THE USA – FROM AP:   WESTON, Wis. — A police officer and three other people were shot and killed when a domestic dispute at a bank escalated into shootings at three locations in northern Wisconsin on Wednesday, investigators said. A suspect was in custody.  The shootings happened at a bank, a law firm and an apartment complex, where officers, including a SWAT team, had a standoff with the suspect for several hours before ending in a volley of gunfire around 5 p.m.  Authorities took no questions in a brief news conference late Wednesday and gave no details on the four victims or suspect. They said there was no remaining threat to the public. Jason Smith, a deputy administrator for the state Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation, said more than 100 officers were investigating and more information would be released Thursday.  Most police officers are good and decent, and some get killed.  Maybe CNN could spend some time on this.

THE MADNESS CONTINUES, AND OUR DEMOCRACY DIES A LITTLE – FROM COLLEGE FIX:   Students at the University of Missouri–Kansas City could soon decide to boot staff and administrators responsible for “victim-blaming and invalidation of rape” if officials accede to the latest demands of campus activists.  One object of students’ ire: an email from Vice Chancellor Mel Tyler in which he “routinely” referred to an alleged rape as “alleged.”...Students also marched on Tyler’s office March 8, where they found him “eating pizza,” according to a report in student newspaper University News that portrays the protesters in a heroic light.  They were led by student Helen Proctor, co-founder of Squad of Siblings, who told Tyler that “all of the administrators” need to go through sexual-violence training. She said without evidence that “one in five women will be sexually assaulted” at UMKC.  The one-in-five figure has been substantially debunked.  Using false figures diminishes the very serious issue of sexual violence.  So do childlike protests against the term "alleged."  That is a word properly inserted into reports of crimes before proof of the crime is presented.  What many "activists" don't realize is that their destruction of due process does real victims no good.  A fair, dispassionate process is best for all.  Then the result will be widely accepted.

March 22,  2017