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

INCREDIBLE – From AP:   WASHINGTON — An industry tally shows more airline deaths worldwide were due to deliberate acts in 2015 than to accidental air crashes, for the second year in a row.  A report by Flightglobal, an aviation news and industry data company, says there were only eight accidental airline crashes last year, accounting for 161 passenger and crew deaths — the fewest crashes and deaths since at least 1946.  The tally excludes a German airliner that was deliberately flown into a mountainside in the French Alps last March, and a Russian airliner packed with tourists that exploded over Egypt. The toll for those two incidents was 374 killed.  A sign of our times, I'm afraid.  And this is occurring despite intensified airline security, or so we're told.

APPALLING – From Breitbart:  The Obama administration is expected to release 17 detainees as early as next week, including “al Qaeda followers” who have been cleared for release from the Guantánamo Bay prison by a board established by the president.  Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told lawmakers last month that 17 Guantanamo prisoners would be sent to other countries in January.  A source, who has reportedly reviewed the list of individuals who are supposed to be moved out, told Fox News that the group of 17 includes “bad guys” and “Al Qaeda followers,” without revealing the identities of the prisoners.  And if one of these murderers kills Americans on Hillary's watch, and she's asked why they'd been released from Gitmo, she'll probably reply, "What difference does it make?"  Yuch.

BULLETIN – From The New York Times:  North Korea declared Tuesday night that it has detonated its first hydrogen bomb, a weapon far more powerful than it has set off previously. If the claim is true, it would drastically escalate the nuclear challenge from one of the world’s most isolated and dangerous states.  It would also devastate any claim that Obama has handled North Korea adequately.  Once again we're surprised and humiliated.  We'll probably have more on this tomorrow.

January 5, 2016