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

VERY BAD IDEA – FROM FOX:  Connecticut is joining a growing alliance of liberal states in a "pact" that would supposedly allow them to change the way presidents are picked -- by allocating each state's electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote.   The uphill campaign, which if ever brought to fruition would almost certainly face a court challenge, has gained renewed attention amid Democratic grumbling about the Electoral College in the wake of President Trump's 2016 win. While he defeated Hillary Clinton in the electoral vote, he lost the popular vote by 2.9 million ballots.  Enter the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which blue states are joining to commit to allocating their electoral votes to the national popular-vote winner -- regardless of their own state results.  The beauty of the Electoral College system is that it forces national candidates to campaign state by state, region by region.  We are, after all, the United STATES of America.  The idea of assigning a state's electoral votes to whomever wins the national popular vote negates the federal system and diminishes the importance of state and local government.  Let's stick with the system in place.  It works and is stable.

A NEW KIND OF STUDENT VICTORY – FROM CAMPUS REFORM:  The University of Minnesota-Twin Cities has scrapped its plans to hire a "trainer in training" for future abortionists after sparking widespread student condemnation.  As previously reported by Campus Reform, the “Reproductive Rights Advocacy Fellowship” initially sought to hire a board certified medical doctor to “spend one year as a ‘trainer in training,’ learning to perform abortion and related procedures.”  That doctor would have been deployed to Planned Parenthood, and would have learned to counsel pregnant women on the pros and cons of having an abortion, as well as ensuring that they understood the facts about the procedure.  Some reports say that the young college generation, just coming in, is far less pro-abortion than previous generations, in part due to medical progress that raises new moral questions about the procedure.  The fact that student action prevented the hiring of abortion trainers at a major university should be carefully noted.  Are we seeing the start of a counter-revolution?  I wouldn't venture a guess.  More study needed.

HISTORIC MEETING SET – FROM THE POLITICO:  President Donald Trump revealed on Thursday that his historic planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would take place on June 12 in Singapore — a location that has virtues for both sides.  "The highly anticipated meeting between Kim Jong Un and myself will take place in Singapore on June 12th," Trump wrote on Twitter. "We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!"   Like Reagan, Trump was denounced as a deranged warmonger by the leftist establishment when he ran for president.  And, like Reagan, he's making serious moves for peace.  And, like Reagan, he understands that peace can only be achieved through strength, and a credible willingness to use it in our own defense.  Contrast this, please, with Barack Obama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize during his first week in office, having done nothing to earn it.

May 10, 2018