SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:40 P.M. ET: 

ZIPPED UP – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:  The White House told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Monday that Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes won't be testifying on Tuesday about his controversial comments on the Iran deal.  In a letter to Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, Neil Eggleston, counsel to President Obama, said it would raise "constitutional concerns" if Rhodes were to testify. He also said Congress has been consulted enough.  Yeah, Congress was certainly consulted on the Iran deal.  The U.S. Senate wasn't even allowed to vote on it.  Great consultation.

MISUNDERSTANDING? – FROM FOX:   An item in the Milwaukee Public Schools' proposed budget listing $471,073 for Black Lives Matter has critics fuming, but district officials said Monday it is all a misunderstanding.  Although the budget draft lists the controversial activist group, whose members have called for attacks on police officers, as the recipient of the funds, school officials said much of the money would go to hiring and training three social studies teachers.  “No funding is going to any Black Lives Matter organization,” Tony Tagliavia, a spokesman for Milwaukee Public Schools told FoxNews.com in a statement. "The specific expenditures, which are also outlined in the budget proposal, are for three social studies teachers and staff development for other employees.”  So why is it listed as Black Lives Matter?  Who makes an error like that?

IT BEGINS –  FROM THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:   A Dallas woman was questioned about her gender by a man who followed her into a bathroom because he said she was “dressed like a man.”  Jessica Rush told KXAS-TV she filmed the last seconds of the encounter on her cell phone Thursday afternoon at the Baylor Medical Center in Frisco, Tex.  “My first thought was ‘I’m about to be attacked’ just because I am 5 [foot]3, female,” Rush said. “I understand one thing if you are like a cop of the Dallas Police Department, but just some random guy coming in I think is absolutely absurd and inappropriate.”  Rush, who is not transgender, was receiving treatment for an injured arm at the hospital Thursday as so-called “bathroom bills” prompt debates about the use of public restrooms by transgender people.  Incidents like this are going to multiply because of all the publicity given to the issue. 

May 16, 2016