SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET: 

MORE NFL DAMAGE – FROM CNBC:  Declining NFL television ratings will lower CBS earnings, according to Credit Suisse.  The firm cut its third-quarter EPS estimates by 5 percent, citing CBS' softer Sunday NFL ratings. The media company reports on Nov. 2.  "We expect third-quarter network advertising to decline 3 percent (previously +1 percent), driven by soft ratings for both the summer schedule and for the start of the NFL season," wrote Credit Suisse analyst Omar Sheikh. "With only one of the three content licensing deals we expected for the second half announced in third quarter, we also expect content licensing revenue growth to be skewed to the fourth quarter."  The NFL continues to be damaged by its indecisiveness and maneuvering over the anthem issue.  The TV networks will not put up with the farce much longer. 

SENIOR SENATOR FORMALLY CHALLENGED – FROM DAILY CALLER:  California Senate leader Kevin de León announced Sunday that he will be challenging fellow Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein for her U.S. Senate in 2018.  De León, the state senate’s president pro tempore, framed his Senate run as a battle against President Donald Trump in an email to supporters.  “We’re overdue for a real debate on the issues, priorities and leadership voters want from their senator. I think California needs a senator not just fully resistant to Trump’s presidency, but who understands the issues most Californians face every day,” De León wrote, according to the Los Angeles Times.  “He disregards our voices. Demonizes our diversity. Attacks our civil rights, our clean air, our health access and our public safety. We can lead the fight against his administration, but only if we jump into the arena together.”  de Leon isn't well known outside Los Angeles, whereas Feinstein is an institution.  Still, Feinstein is in her mid-eighties, and Californians might be looking for a youthful face, and for a change.  If de Leon comes out on top, the California congressional delegation will move even further to the left.  Knowing the Republican Party, they will probably give up on the race and fail to field a first-class candidate.

IT HAD TO COME TO THIS – FROM THE MIAMI HERALD:  WASHINGTON – Florida has a U.S. senator who once flew aboard the Space Shuttle.  A congressional candidate from Miami can go one better: Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera says she’s been aboard a spaceship too. But this one was crewed by aliens. As in extraterrestrials.  Three blond, big-bodied beings — two females, one male — visited her when she was 7 years old and have communicated telepathically with her several times in her life, she says. (Sen. Bill Nelson served as payload officer aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986. All seven people aboard were from Earth. As far as is known.)  This is nothing.  When one of those aliens runs for Congress, and becomes Speaker, then I'll be impressed.

October 16, 2017