SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:49 P.M. ET: 

SIGN OF OUR TIMES – FROM FOX:   Citing a disturbing trend of new soldiers lacking both proper discipline and physical fitness, senior U.S. Army leaders are calling for a tougher and longer basic training program to prepare troops for combat over the next decade.  “We have every reason to get this right, and far fewer reasons not to,” Secretary of the Army Mark Esper said at the Association of the United States Army's Global Force Symposium in Alabama on Monday. “That’s why we are considering several initiatives — from a new physical fitness regime to reforming and extending basic training — in order to ensure our young men and women are prepared for the rigors of high-intensity combat.”  While Esper didn’t divulge any details of what an extended Basic Combat Training (BCT) might look like, the Army has already floated the idea of adding two weeks to its 10-week program. A redesigned BCT is expected to be implemented by early summer.  Yes, our young people too often lack proper discipline and physical fitness.  You don't think that has anything to do with our educational system, do you?

TESLA ACCIDENT REPORT – FROM THE HILL:  Tesla revealed late Friday that the fatal crash in California last week occurred after the vehicle involved was placed on Autopilot.  The electric car company said in a press release after reviewing the Model X’s computer logs that the in-car driver, identified as Apple engineer Wei Huang, had been instructed to take control of the steering wheel but ignored the warning.  “The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision,” Tesla said in its press release...The company said it stands by the use of Autopilot, saying that autonomous cars are 10 times safer than non-autonomous cars. Previous crashes involving Tesla vehicles operating on Autopilot have been investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.   We'll have to get used to reports like this because there'll be many more of them.  Driverless or computer-assisted cars where drivers simply monitor the operation are coming, as are autonomous trucks.  There will be accidents, especially at the beginning.  But I have no doubt that safety will be much greater in the long run.  After all, the computer won't be out drinking, or trying to text while driving. 

I CAN'T WAIT – FROM USA TODAY:  For the first time, an NFL team will have men as part of its official spirit squad.   Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies, named to the Los Angeles Rams squad this week, will be the first ones to perform the same routine as the female dancers. The Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts have men who perform stunts with female cheerleaders, but don't dance.  Peron and Jinnies are both classically trained dancers and have been performing their entire lives.  But what made them take this groundbreaking step?  "I thought, 'Why not me? Why can't I do this?' " Peron said in an interview Wednesday on ABC-TV's Good Morning America.   Well, okay, I have to admit that there have been male cheerleaders before, especially in colleges.  But couldn't they have given the women of football this one area to themselves?  The NFL has lost viewers this year, in part to their PC tolerance of players "taking a knee" to protest what they saw as injustice.  This just looks like more PC.

March 30,  2018