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

I AM SHOCKED, SHOCKED AT THIS – FROM REDALERTPOLITICS.COM:   Young America’s Foundation (YAF) released their annual survey of commencement addresses at the nation’s top colleges, and the results are staggering. In the first year of the Trump presidency, liberal commencement speakers outnumber conservative speakers 11-to-1, according to their survey.  “YAF’s Commencement Speakers Survey scrutinizes the commencement addresses given at the top 100 national universities as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. With 45 liberal speakers imparting progressive ideas and just 4 conservatives addressing graduates, the contrast in this year’s survey is stunning,” the YAF press release said.  This year’s ratio of liberals to conservatives is particularly high, a potential sign of academia’s reaction to the 2016 election. Last year, the ratio was four-to-one — 45 liberals to 12 conservatives. In 2015, the ratio was six-to-one; in  2014, the ratio was four-to-one; in 2013, the ratio was 3.5-to-1; and in 2012, it was seven-to-one.  This will change only when students and alumni demand greater balance.  Editorials from some brave, mature newspapers would help as well.

THE FATE OF CHICAGO – FROM THE L.A. TIMES:   Chicago was the only city among the nation's 20 largest to lose population in 2016 — and it lost nearly double the number of residents as the year before, according to newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau.  It's the city's third consecutive year of population loss. Chicago's population fell by 8,638 residents between 2015 and 2016, to 2,704,958. The year before, it declined by 4,934.  The population of the greater Chicago area, defined by the Census Bureau as the city and suburbs extending into Wisconsin and Indiana, is also declining. Numbers made available in March showed a drop of 19,570 residents in 2016 — the greatest loss of any metropolitan area in the country.
Illinois' population fell by more than any other state’s in 2016, down 37,508 people, according to census data released in December.  What a total disaster.  Years of bad government, and the terrible influence of Chicago politics, have led to this.   Chicago is Barack Obama's home city.  I wonder if he has any interest in what's actually happening there. 

SUPERB GUY, SUPERB ANSWER – FROM DAILY CALLER:  Secretary of Defense James Mattis, known for his frank quotes about the realities of war, offered up a line befitting his nickname, “Mad Dog,” during an interview airing Sunday.  “What keeps you awake at night?” CBS “Face the Nation” host John Dickerson asked Mattis.  “Nothing,” a stonefaced Mattis responded. “I keep other people awake at night.”  Nothing more need be said.

May 28,  2017