SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

MAJOR TRAVEL NEWS – From the Latin American Herald Tribune:  PORT-AU-PRINCE – Chelsea Clinton will visit Haiti on July 28-29 in the capacity of vice president of the Clinton Foundation, which is carrying out aid projects in the impoverished Caribbean nation.  Clinton, the foundation announced Tuesday in a statement, will travel to Haiti with foundation president Donna Shalala, and the pair will head a group comprised of philanthropists, businessmen and foundation donors who will visit the different aid and development projects being undertaken there.  The daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also scheduled to participate in a round table on the need to increase business opportunities for female teens and women, the Clinton Foundation said.  Since 2010, the foundation has collected $30 million for projects and is helping in Haiti’s recovery after the earthquake that devastated the country in that year, killing more than 200,000 people and injuring some 300,000.  Why doesn't anyone ever ask why Haiti is so impoverished?  Why is it constantly necessary to raise money for that country?  I suspect many in the chattering classes are afraid of the answers.  Not politically correct.

OBAMA GIVES IN TO A LITTLE AMERICANISM – From the Washington Post:   PITTSBURGH — President Obama, facing growing criticism from conservatives and some veterans, ordered all American flags on federal grounds to be lowered to half-staff for the remainder of the week to honor the five service members killed at a naval reserve center in Chattanooga, Tenn.  The move was announced Tuesday, five days after the shooting rampage and just minutes after Obama delivered a speech here at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in which he defended his Iran nuclear deal, called for more military spending, and criticized Republicans for relying too heavily on military force and threats instead of diplomacy.  Unbelievably cynical.  He called for more military spending?  The man has gutted our military.  Even some of his own appointees are warning about our military weakness. 

KASICH DECLARES – And nobody noticed.  Republican Governor John Kasich of Ohio officially entered the presidential race on Tuesday.  But there are already so many declared Republican candidates that Kasich essentially took a number and waited in line.  He's a good man, but I found his opening-gun statements a bit wanting.  The trouble with Kasich is that he often seems more interested in philosophical dissection of the issues than in being a leader.  You want to follow him, if only you knew precisely where he wants to go.  But he has a fine record as governor of Ohio, and he could eventually be a factor, which he currently is not.  He has to make enough of a splash in campaigning to get into the top tier.  It will not be easy.

YANKS IN PERIL – From Fox:  British Authorities charged two Muslim relatives on Tuesday with terror-related offenses, including plotting an attack against U.S. military personnel in the U.K.  The news comes less than a week since the deadly terror attack that killed five service members in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Junead Ahmed Khan, 24, is accused of trying to plan an attack sometime between May 10 and July 14, officials said. Khan and his uncle, 22-year-old Shazib Ahmed Khan, have also been charged with planning to travel to Syria to join ISIS, according to a statement from the Crown Prosecution Service.  Nothing to see, nothing to see.  Just another family that's angry at Mitch McConnell.

July 21, 2015