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

WORDS HAVE CONSEQUENCES – FROM VARIETY:   FCC chairman Ajit Pai said that his agency will be looking into complaints made against Stephen Colbert for what some labeled a homophobic joke about President Donald Trump.  “I have had a chance to see the clip now and so, as we get complaints — and we’ve gotten a number of them — we are going to take the facts that we find and we are going to apply the law as it’s been set out by the Supreme Court and other courts and we’ll take the appropriate action,” Pai told Philadelphia’s Talk Radio 1210 WPHT.  “Traditionally, the agency has to decide, if it does find a violation, what the appropriate remedy should be,” he continued. “A fine, of some sort, is typically what we do.” Pai was appointed to the FCC in 2012 by President Barack Obama. He was elevated to the chairmanship of the commission by Trump in January.  They could always apply Mother's Law, and wash Colbert's mouth out with soap.

LITTLE IDIOTS – FROM THE FEDERALIST:    Even as Middlebury College administrators investigated students who were disruptive and violent against libertarian social scientist Charles Murray, the school’s student government expressed its sentiments that penalizing their behavior is unjust.  On Monday, the Middlebury administration announced it had disciplined 30 students so far for their actions during the Murray event...The student bill argued that arresting students who engage in violent and disruptive behavior would result in “psychological trauma for marginalized students.” That’s right, the student government essentially argued that people it deems “marginalized” should get a free pass on violence and disorderly conduct.  The students also associated arrests and criminal charges “with police violence and the carceral state, which law professor Michelle Alexander refers to as ‘the New Jim Crow.’”  And parents keep paying that tuition.  Are they more immature than their kids?

WOULD TAXPAYERS APPROVE THIS? – FROM FOX:   Sacramento became the latest city this week to go above and beyond ‘sanctuary’ policies by approving the use of taxpayer dollars to support the legal defense of illegal immigrants facing deportation.  The City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to draw $300,000 from the general fund to “provide urgent legal and support services to Sacramento families facing the immediate threat of separation due to deportation.”   The plan, backed by the mayor, fits a trend of local and state lawmakers taking similar action. As the Trump administration separately faces a court setback in its bid to cut off federal funds to sanctuary cities, those jurisdictions are only doubling down.  Earlier in the week, officials in Michigan's Washtenaw County gave initial approval to pay such legal bills with taxpayer funds.  Proposals to directly or indirectly pay for legal assistance to illegal immigrants have also gained approval in Providence, R.I.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco, Calif.; and Newark, N.J.  It seems to me that funds for legal defense for illegal immigrants should be provided by private foundations, not government agencies.  This strikes me as more politics than justice.

May 5, 2017