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

PRESIDENT DOWN – FROM RASMUSSEN REPORTS:  The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 41% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-seven percent (57%) disapprove.  The latest figures include 25% who Strongly Approve of the way Trump is performing and 47% who Strongly Disapprove.   Trump was at 46% in the Rasmussen poll just two weeks ago.  Obviously, there's been slippage, but it's hard to pinpoint exactly why.  Mr. Trump will never catch a break from the media, and he must avoid the unforced errors, especially in public statements, that add to his problems. 

A DISGRACEFUL IDIOT – FROM DAILY CALLER:   Democratic Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson is laughing and bragging after White House chief of staff John Kelly said he was “stunned” Thursday that Wilson criticized President Donald Trump’s call to the widow of a dead soldier.  “You mean to tell me that I’ve become so important…that the White House is following me and my words? This is amazing. That’s amazing. That is absolutely phenomenal. I’ll have to tell my kids that I’m a rock star now,” Wilson told Miami Fox affiliate WSVN-TV, while laughing.  What a total jerk.  She's talking about the death of an American soldier.  But it's all about her.

THE HYPOCRISY TRAIN ROARS ON – FROM PAGE SIX:  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — having removed Harvey Weinstein — is now under pressure to boot Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby and other members who have been charged with and/or convicted of serious crimes.  While Weinstein has denied ever forcing himself on women and has not been arrested for anything, Polanski was convicted in 1977 of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.  The academy proceeded to nominate Polanski for Best Director two more times and gave him the Oscar in 2003 for his Holocaust film, “The Pianist.”  Cosby, accused by more than 50 women, was tried for sexual assault earlier this year in Pennsylvania. The trial ended with a hung jury, but he faces a retrial next spring.   It's so phony.  If these men deserved punishment, they deserved it years ago.  Why were they not punished by the industry?  Because there was no pressure to do so.  Now the heat is on.  Next year the heat will be off.  And the creeps will come back out of the woodwork.  I've worked in Hollywood.  There are many fine people in the business, but there too many who'd lie about what they had for lunch. 

October 19, 2017