SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:48 P.M. ET: 

MAJOR DIVERSITY NEWS – From the Washington Times, URGENT:  "MSNBC host Ronan Farrow took to his panel Tuesday to discuss what he perceives as a lack of racial diversity among emoji characters.  Emoji, originating in Japan, describes the ideograms or smiley faces used in electronic messages, such as texting and social media.  'Do you think there’s a limitation we’re suffering from in terms of the racial diversity of these emojis? Mr. Farrow asked linguist John McWhorter, who is black, Newsbusters reported.  'No, I think that actually what we’re going to see more is a gender skew,' Mr. McWhorter argued. 'Apparently women are more likely to use them and more richly.'"  McWhorter is a good guy, with common sense.  Farrow plays in a sandbox.  This is what it's come to.

CYNICAL – President Obama plays a softer version of the race card.  From Breitbart:  "In Kansas City today, President Obama complained that Republicans continued to oppose his agenda in Congress.
'C’mon and help out a bit,' he said, addressing the GOP. 'Stop bein’ mad all the time. Stop just hatin’ all the time. C’mon, let’s get some work done together.'"  I love it when he reverts to that "just folks" accent, pretty much like Hillary when, as first lady of Arkansas, she developed a Southern accent.  His reference to hate is outrageous.  No one hates him.  They disagree with him.  But the Dems are using charged language to ignite their base, to warn that the people in the white sheets are just around the corner.  Disgraceful.

FAREWELL – From Fox:  "ATLANTA – The last surviving member of the crew that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, hastening the end of World War II and forcing the world into the atomic age, has died in Georgia.  Theodore VanKirk, also known as 'Dutch,' died Monday of natural causes at the retirement home where he lived in Stone Mountain, Georgia, his son Tom VanKirk said. He was 93.  VanKirk flew nearly 60 bombing missions, but it was a single mission in the Pacific that secured him a place in history. He was 24 years old when he served as navigator on the Enola Gay, the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the first atomic bomb deployed in wartime over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945."  I have no doubt that he was the subject of abuse all his life from the fashionable leftists.  The use of the atomic bomb was painful, but tragically necessary.  It ended the war quickly and prevented a further bloodbath. 

CORRECTION – Quoting from the Washington Times, Short Takes reported last night that "for the first time in U.S. history, a Middle Eastern-based firm is poised to manage a strategic U.S. port on Florida’s Atlantic coast, rekindling national security concerns inside Congress."  Sharp-eyed reader Miriam Goldberg pointed out today that this was an error.  In 2006 a controversy arose over a proposal to have Dubai Ports World, based in the United Arab Emirates, manage six American ports, including Miami.  The proposal, backed by the Bush administration, was vigorously opposed by many others on national-security grounds.  Eventually the proposal lost significance when Dubai Ports World sold its American interests. 

July 30,  2014