SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 8:04 P.M. ET:

ROMNEY DIGS IN – FROM THE HILL:   Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 nominee, is among those courting prospects for a possible third-party bid to keep Donald Trump from the White House, according to a Washington Post report.  Among those prospects are Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who suspended his presidential campaign in early May.
Kasich’s chief strategist John Weaver said the governor isn’t interested in running an an independent.  A Sasse spokesman declined to comment.  But it’s not looking too good for a late in the game third-party bid, according to the report.  Deadlines have passed to get on the ballot in big states like Texas, though organizers argue a legal challenge there would be successful.  In an ordinary election season I'd say that any new effort is futile.  But this isn't an ordinary election season.  Nobody knows anything. 

OBAMA CHALLENGED...BY BLACKS – FROM BREITBART:   The president of the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP) says that the Obama administration’s assertion that single-sex bathrooms are discriminating against gender-confused individuals in much the same way that blacks experienced discrimination in the United States is a “gross insult” to all who fought for equality for African-Americans.  “There is simply no relation between the struggles that Black Americans have faced and the desire of a tiny minority group to violate the dignity and privacy of women and girls,” said Rev. Bill Owens in a statement sent to Breitbart News. “To suggest some sort of equivalence is a gross insult to all of those who marched with Dr. King and faced fire hoses and hatred in the name of equality.”  I'm glad someone said it.  That is an accurate statement.  Issues involving transgendered individuals can be handled with dignity and respect without having to shove an ideology down our throats. 

SHUT UP! – FROM DAILY CALLER:  The new Muslim mayor of London has issued a warning to Donald Trump: Moderate your stance on Muslims, or they will launch more attacks against America.  Trump recently praised Sadiq Khan for winning London’s mayoral race, and said he would be willing to create an exception in his policy restricting Muslim entry into the United States in order to allow Khan to visit. But in a statement Tuesday, Khan dismissed Trump’s invitation, and also denounced his views on Islam as “ignorant,” suggesting Trump’s policies would increase the terrorist threat in both the U.S. and U.K.  “Donald Trump’s ignorant view of Islam could make both of our countries less safe – it risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of extremists,” he said. “Donald Trump and those around him think that Western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam – London has proved him wrong.”  Methinks the mayor should shut up.  Whether we agree with him or not, he is interfering in the internal affairs of the United States.  Someone should walk him around Buckingham Palace and explain the rules.

May 14, 2016