SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:54 P.M. ET: 

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – From Fox:   A Georgia police officer taking classes in his spare time got an unwanted lesson from a college instructor last week, but now it is the school that is feeling blue – and apologizing.  The unidentified cop was wearing his uniform and carrying his service gun when the Darton State College instructor reportedly became uncomfortable with his presence, according to WALB-TV. School officials confirmed the police officer was escorted out of the classroom, but did not elaborate.  "Darton State College is appreciative for the service of our law enforcement, and welcome them as students on our campus,” Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Thomas Ormand said in a statement. “We have apologized to the officer for our misunderstanding when he attended class on our campus, and we regret this happened."  At least someone apologized.  But you wonder about the maturity and judgment of the "instructor."  The instructor needs some instructing.

IT'S COME TO THIS – From AP:   WASHINGTON (AP) -- They say crime doesn't pay, but that might not be entirely true in the District of Columbia as lawmakers look for ways to discourage people from becoming repeat offenders.  The D.C. Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a bill that includes a proposal to pay residents a stipend not to commit crimes. It's based on a program in Richmond, California, that advocates say has contributed to deep reductions in crime there.  Under the bill, city officials would identify up to 200 people a year who are considered at risk of either committing or becoming victims of violent crime. Those people would be directed to participate in behavioral therapy and other programs. If they fulfill those obligations and stay out of trouble, they would be paid.  The bill doesn't specify the value of the stipends, but participants in the California program receive up to $9,000 per year.  We could go further and pay members of the Obama administration not to show up for work.  The country would improve overnight.

PULLING A TRUMP – Bernie Sanders' campaign says he won't participate in Thursday's planned Democratic presidential debate unless Hillary Clinton agrees to the Sanders campaign's conditions on future debates.  "We are continuing to negotiate with them not just about the debate Thursday night, but about the other debates that we have said need to be agreed to in order to put the whole package of debates together," Tad Devine, a top Sanders campaign official, told The Hill.  "They have not agreed to at least one aspect of it, which is we've asked for a debate in New York, and they do not want to have a debate in New York."
Clinton is urging Sanders to debate her in New Hampshire this week, saying the campaign has met the conditions.   Bernie is starting to sound just like the rest of them.  Pretty soon he'll be saying that his campaign is HUGE, JUST HUGE. 

ISN'T THIS WHAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AGAINST? – From Fox:   Faced with alarmingly low graduation rates for black males, the University of Connecticut is trying something it calls bold -- and critics call segregation.  The school's main campus in Storrs has launched a program slated for fall in which 40 black male undergraduates live together in on-campus housing. Proponents believe the students can draw on their common experiences and help each other make it to commencement. But others cringe at the idea of black-only housing, saying it turns decades of hard-fought racial progress on its head.  “Forget about this nonsense and just treat students without regard to skin color,” President and General Counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity Roger Clegg told Insidehighered.com. “If there are students of color who are at risk or who could use some access to special programs, that’s fine, but schools shouldn’t be using race as a proxy for who’s at risk and who’s going to have a hard time as a student. There are lots of African-American students who come from advantaged backgrounds. And lots of non-African-American students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.”  You can be sure that this segregated dorm will quickly fall under the control of leftists and racialists.  The students will be radicalized, but educated is another story.

February 2, 2016