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

ILLUSIONS OF GRANDEUR – FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER:   President Obama is planning to deliver his final speech as commander in chief in his hometown of Chicago next month, according to a report Thursday.  Though the president and his family are on vacation in Hawaii until Jan. 2, he will return to the contiguous U.S. for the final two and a half weeks of his presidency before his successor, Donald Trump, is sworn into office.  Sources familiar with the planning of the event told Politico they expect the speech to take place on Jan. 10 and that the Secret Service is looking at large venues such as McCormick Place in the United Center.  The White House has not commented.  He will do everything possible to upstage Trump, Maybe he'll ride in on a chariot.  But he will fail, for he has nothing to say.  The mainstreamers, however, will declare his speech one of the greatest in the history of the Universe. 

THE SWING VOTE WILL STAY – FROM DAILY CALLER:  Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy will remain on the bench for at least another term, despite indications that his retirement was imminent.  Rumors abounded that Kennedy was preparing to depart the bench at the end of the Court’s current term in June 2017...Kennedy is usually the swing vote among the justices, though he resents the characterization. President-elect Donald Trump will make at least one appointment to the Court, however, Kennedy’s vote will still be critical to the outcome of ideologically-charged cases that tend to divide the justices. As such, he will likely still enjoy his position of maximum influence for several years...Trump will be making his first Supreme Court pick within weeks, nominating a candidate to succeed the late Antonin Scalia.  Odds are he will have several more Court picks in the next four years. 

DO YOU THINK THIS IS TRUE? – FROM FOX:   An Oklahoma man is facing up to a year in jail after being caught by police doing 208 mph on a public road at night.  The incident took place in November on the Kilpatrick Turnpike in Oklahoma City, when Hector Fraire was spotted doing 85 mph in a 70 mph zone in his modified blue 2011 Ford Mustang, then reportedly sped up to evade the police car that tried to pull him over.  The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says he was then clocked at 176 mph and 208 mph and turned off his headlights and brake lights at one point, before finally pulling over for a patrol car that intercepted him at a red light.  Officials told The Oklahoman that Fraire "became really apologetic and stated he ran because he was scared," and described him as a member of a “local racing club.”  I am not now, nor have I ever been, a car nut.  So I will leave it to the experts in our readership to tell me whether a modified Mustang can get up to 208 miles an hour.  I personally never drive faster than 180.

December 23, 2016