SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:58 P.M. ET: 

TO BE WATCHED – Weekly jobless claims rose for the third straight week, to 295,000.  That is not a terrible number, but it certainly isn't something you want in the middle of a "recovery."  Jobless claims, and frozen wages, do not make a good mix.

RIDICULOUS – From The Times of Israel:  "US President Barack Obama told Jewish leaders last week he would not meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until after the June 30 deadline for the Iranian nuclear talks, the New York Times reported on Thursday.  Obama told the group he imagined a face-to-face meeting with the Israeli leader would likely end with Netanyahu 'publicly venting his complaints about the president’s policies,' particularly on Iran, according to anonymous sources familiar with the meeting."  Obama is a petulant child.  During this period he'll meet with absolute dictators, monarchs, and the never-elected leaders of Cuba.  But he won't meet with Israel's prime minister because the prime minister might disagree with him.  The whole world is watching.

OUR FUTURE LEADERS – From the Washington Times:  "You wouldn’t know it to look at her, but Christina Hoff Sommers is apparently the kind of speaker whose very presence on college campuses is so alarming that students require advance notice, also known as a trigger warning.  At least, that’s what happened when the American Enterprise Institute scholar spoke this month at Georgetown University and Oberlin College. Campus feminists kicked into high alert, warning students that her lecture on feminism and criticism of the college 'rape culture' could make them 'feel unsafe.'  Monday’s Oberlin event came with a 'safe space' for people to gather during and after her talk. One student warned beforehand that there would be 'gatekeeping' to ensure that nobody entered who might be a 'toxic, dangerous and/or violent person.'"  The problem is that many colleges appear to be run by people who are more immature than the students.  So what can we expect of the students?

GLOBAL WARMING ALERT – From WaPo:  "Late April is starting to feel more like mid-winter for many parts of the U.S. this week. The Great Lakes and Northeast woke up to snow on Thursday morning and for some, it was actually the fourth day in a row of the wintry weather.  Since Sunday, it has snowed in at least 23 states, as far south as New Mexico, according to the national snow analysis from the National Weather Service. Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin have been seeing snow all week, but are finally getting a reprieve on Thursday (if you can call temperatures in the 30s a reprieve)."  Al Gore still insisted on appearing in a bikini.

April 23,  2015