SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET:

CONFUSED?  From London's Daily Mail:   Health labels on food could be making people fatter rather than helping them to lose weight, a study has found.  People eat more food than they should if it is labelled healthy because they think it is less filling than fatty options.  Consumers tend to binge when they see nutritional signs because they automatically assume they are making a better choice.  As a result they could end up consuming more calories overall, researchers said.  The results suggest that, while eating too much is often the cause of obesity, eating too much healthy food could make you fat too.  I will stop reading labels immediately.  I never read one that I liked.

HE'S BAACK – From AP:   BERLIN (AP) — For 70 years since the Nazi defeat in World War II, copyright law has been used in Germany to prohibit the publication of "Mein Kampf" — the notorious anti-Semitic tome in which Adolf Hitler set out his ideology.  That will change next month when a new edition with critical commentary, the product of several years' work by a publicly funded institute, hits the shelves.  While historians say it could help fill a gap in Germans' knowledge of the era, Jewish groups are wary and German authorities are making it clear that they still won't tolerate any new "Mein Kampf" without annotations.  I'm not sure it's a good idea, but I don't see how publication can be prevented in a democracy once a copyright expires.  If used correctly, Mein Kampf can be a warning about extremism.  If used incorrectly, it can spawn new fascist groups.

STANDINGS – From Rasmussen:   Presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump remain all tied up in a hypothetical matchup heading into 2016.  If the 2016 presidential election was held today, 37% of Likely U.S. Voters would vote for Clinton, while 36% would vote for Trump. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that a sizable 22% would choose some other candidate, while five percent (5%) are undecided.  These findings are nearly identical to those measured in October when Trump picked up 38% support to Clinton’s 36%.  More than anything, I think these results show Clinton's weakness.  She really isn't very popular.  There is very little "wanting" of Hillary, except among the mink-coat pseudo-feminist crowd, still pining for the 1960s. 

December 28, 2015