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

SOBERING – From AP:   BRUSSELS (AP) — The New Year’s Eve fireworks display is being canceled in Belgium’s capital due to threats of an extremist attack.  Yvan Mayeur, the Belgian capital’s mayor, said the decision was taken Wednesday evening after consultation with government officials.  “We are forced to cancel considering the risk analysis done by the Crisis Center,” he told the French-language RTBF network.  Belgium has become a hotbed of Islamist extremism in Europe. 

ANOTHER FAKE "HATE CRIME" – They're now becoming routine.  From the Houston Chronicle:   A Houston man has been arrested in connection with a suspected arson at a mosque on Christmas Day, but the motive for the crime remains a mystery, with the suspect maintaining he was a regular at the mosque.  A spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed that the suspect, 37-year-old Gary Nathaniel Moore of Houston, was arrested early Wednesday. Moore appeared in court at 7 a.m., spokeswoman Nicole Strong said, and bond was set at $100,000.  According to a charging instrument released by the Harris County District Clerk, Moore told investigators at the scene that he has attended the storefront mosque for five years, coming five times per day to pray seven days per week.  The cops nailed this one quickly, sparing us the required "interfaith solidarity rally" that follows virtually every report of a "hate crime."

THIS JUST IN – TRUMP DEFENDS HAIRSPRAY – From The New York Times:   Donald J. Trump appears to be more concerned about the quality of his hair than the quality of the air.  Mr. Trump has offered little in the way of an environmental policy during his presidential campaign, but on Wednesday he said that President Obama’s concerns about the environment were infringing on his rights as a consumer. More pressing than saving the ozone layer, he suggested, was the freedom to buy aerosol hairspray.  “You can’t use hairspray because hairspray is going to affect the ozone,” Mr. Trump said during a rally in South Carolina. “They don’t want me to use hairspray, they want me to use the pump.”  This is one of the great crises of our time, and calls for a special session of Congress.

December 30,  2015