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

HOPE FOR HILLARY – FROM CBS:   MASVINGO, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who turns 93 in February, was endorsed on Saturday as the ruling party’s candidate in a national election scheduled for 2018.  The ruling ZANU-PF party announced its support in the southeast town of Masvingo, where the party’s youth wing even proposed that Mugabe should rule for life with broad powers.  Opposition groups have described such adulation as a sign that Mugabe and his loyalists are out of touch with the desperation of a nation that is suffering massive unemployment, cash shortages and company closures.  A perfect example of the cult of personality.  When you see huge posters saying "Hillary 2020, 2024, 2028," you'll know the malady has come here.

TRUDEAU STUMBLES – FROM REUTERS:    OTTAWA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's approval rating has dropped 10 percentage points in the last three months amid rising dissatisfaction with the economy and concern about pipeline approvals, a public opinion poll released on Friday showed.  Still, Trudeau remained far more popular than his two political opponents and more popular than any recent prime minister, with 55 percent of Canadians expressing confidence in his performance, the Angus Reid poll showed.  That was down 10 points from the 65 percent approval rating Trudeau enjoyed in September, according to the survey, which carried the headline "Is the honeymoon ending?"  "While this level of approval may well be the envy of prime ministers past and future, it also represents the lowest approval he has recorded at any point since his Liberal Party won a majority mandate in last October's election," Angus Reid said in the poll.  Canada tried what we tried – put a kid in office and hope for the best.  But hope is not enough, as Americans have painfully learned.

BLAME EVERYONE – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:  The Hillary Clinton campaign and its allies, rallying behind the contention that cyberwarfare played a role in swinging the presidential election for Donald Trump, are now taking parting shots at the Obama administration, the intelligence community and the media for failing to treat the Russian hacking threat with sufficient urgency.  Many Clinton confidants place blame for the Electoral College defeat squarely at the feet of FBI Director James B. Comey, arguing that his letter to Congress 11 days before the election reopening the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s private email server turned the tide decisively in favor of Mr. Trump.  But Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said Sunday that the FBI is also culpable for negligence in response to suspected Russian meddling in the democratic process.  Mr. Podesta said the agency did not contact him about the hack into his personal email account until after WikiLeaks began publishing his emails by the thousands on Oct. 7.  People are getting tired of this.  It's like a baseball manager blaming global warming for the loss of the seventh World Series game.  The Clintonistas should blame themselves for falling out of touch with the American people.

December 18,  2016