SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:28 P.M. ET:

WELCOME TO NEW YORK, COMRADES – Leftist Mayor Bill de Blasio and his dancin' revolutionaries are already doing what leftists do best – moving toward mediocrity.  From the Washington Times:  "A popular gifted-student program at a New York City elementary school is getting the ax after school officials decided it lacked diversity.  PS 139 Principal Mary McDonald told parents in a letter Jan. 24 that Students of Academic Rigor, or SOAR, would no longer accept applications for incoming kindergartners, the New York Daily News reported.  'Our Kindergarten classes will be heterogeneously grouped to reflect the diversity of our student body and the community we live in,' Miss McDonald said in the letter posted on Flickr.com."  Instead of motivating minority students to meat SOAR's standards, the school will eliminate the standards.  What a gift to students.  Welcome to the People's Republic.

MSNBC BOWS – From Fox:  "MSNBC President Phil Griffin, faced with an uproar online, apologized to the Republican national chairman on Thursday for an 'outrageous and unacceptable' tweet by the network that accused conservatives of hostility toward biracial families.  Griffin, who acted hours after party chairman Reince Priebus vowed to keep Republicans off the cable channel, also said he has fired the staffer involved.  'We immediately acknowledged that it was offensive and wrong, apologized, and deleted it,' Griffin said in a statement. 'I personally apologize to Mr. Priebus and to everyone offended.'"  Seems that MSNBC has had to issue many, many apologies recently.  Maybe getting it right in the first place would ease the need.

LOUISIANA, U.S. SENATE – Republicans would love to knock off Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana this year.  They have a shot.  From Rasmussen:  "Incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu runs slightly behind Republican challenger Bill Cassidy in Rasmussen Reports’ first look at the 2014 U.S. Senate race in Louisiana.  A new statewide telephone survey of Likely Louisiana Voters finds Cassidy, a U.S. congressman, with 44% support to Landrieu’s 40%. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate in the race, while 11% are undecided."  Not in the bag yet.  Landrieu comes from a prominent political family, and has managed to pull out some tight victories.  Republicans can win this, with skilful campaigning and no gaffes.

WEREN'T THEY THE INTENDED BENEFICIARIES? – From NRO:  "As the deadline for 2014 enrollment nears, Obamacare is growing increasingly unpopular, especially among the uninsured. A new Kaiser Family Foundation survey finds that about twice as many uninsured people have an unfavorable view of the health-care law than have a favorable one.  Among the uninsured, 47 percent view Obamacare in a negative light versus the 24 percent who view it favorably. That’s a change from 43 percent who viewed it unfavorably last month, and 36 percent who viewed it favorably. Overall, half of Americans view Obamacare unfavorably, while just over one-third have a positive take on the law. ?  More of the uninsured also said Obamacare made them worse off (39 percent) than improved their situation (26 percent), according to the poll."  What an embarrassment.

January 30, 2014