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

EXCITEMENT OF SCIENCE – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  NASA said Monday it will soon announce a major discovery regarding planets that orbit other stars.  The agency will make the out-of-this-world announcement about a “discovery beyond our solar system” at a press conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday.  The space agency will “present new findings on planets that orbit stars other than our sun, known as exoplanets,” NASA said.  The announcement has the astronomy community abuzz that NASA is set to announce its best finding thus far that a planet outside our solar system could potentially support life.  Astronomers and planetary scientists from across the world will be at the press conference, the paper reported.  Watch, CNN will charge that Trump has already barred immigration from these planets.

GENIUSES AT WORK – FROM DAILY CALLER:   An “antiracist” poster in a college writing center insists American grammar is “racist” and an “unjust language structure,” promising to prioritize rhetoric over “grammatical ‘correctness.'”  The poster, written by the director, staff, and tutors of the University of Washington, Tacoma’s Writing Center, states “racism is the normal condition of things,” declaring that it permeates rules, systems, expectations, in courses, school and society.  “Linguistic and writing research has shown clearly for many decades that there is no inherent ‘standard’ of English,” proclaims the writing center’s statement. “Language is constantly changing. These two facts make it very difficult to justify placing people in hierarchies or restricting opportunities and privileges because of the way people communicate in particular versions of English.”  That is complete garbage.  Any good writer or editor knows that the purpose of teaching grammar is to be sure we're all communicating in the same language, with the same meanings and emphasis.  The common tongue, as it's called.  All these educators are doing is hurting the very students they claim to be helping.  What clowns.

PASSING OF A FINE JOURNALIST – FROM FOX:   Brenda Buttner, host of Fox News Channel's "Bulls and Bears," has passed away at age 55 after a battle with cancer.  Based in New York, she joined the network in 2000, after hosting CNBC's "The Money Club" and serving as the network's Washington correspondent.  Buttner graduated with honors from Harvard University with a B.A. in social studies and went on to become a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where she graduated with high honors in politics and economics.  Neil Cavuto offered a heartfelt tribute to Buttner on "Your World," praising her intelligence, heart and sense of humor.  "She took stock of life much more than any stock in life," Cavuto said. "It's what separated her from everyone else in this business. Not just dollars, you see, Brenda had depth."  I always thought of her as a consummate professional, the top of the game.  It's very sad.

February 20, 2017