SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:10 P.M. ET:

THE ELITES HAVE THEIR FAREWELL PARTY – FROM THE DAILY MAIL:   Dozens of celebrities turned out to party until 4am at the White House in a farewell bash that saw the likes of Paul McCartney, Meryl Streep and SJP tear up the dancefloor.  The strictly VIP guestlist were banned from recording inside the party where Barack and Michelle served chicken and waffles to weary partygoers in the early hours of Saturday morning.  But that didn't stop A-list attendees from spilling the beans and their selfies to social media revealing how many of the Hollywood elite turned out to say goodbye to the beloved first family.   Syrian refugees, Israeli terror victims, unemployed American workers and parents of murdered children in Chicago did not receive their invitations in time.

NAT HENTOFF IS DEAD – FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:  NEW YORK — Nat Hentoff, an eclectic columnist, critic, novelist and agitator dedicated to music, free expression and defying the party line, died Saturday at age 91.  His son, Tom Hentoff, said his father died from natural causes at his Manhattan apartment.  Schooled in the classics and the stories he heard from Duke Ellington and other jazz greats, Nat Hentoff enjoyed a diverse and iconoclastic career, basking in “the freedom to be infuriating on a myriad of subjects.”  He was a bearded, scholarly figure, a kind of secular rabbi, as likely to write a column about fiddler Bob Wills as a dissection of the Patriot Act, to have his name appear in the liberal Village Voice as the far-right WorldNetDaily.com, where his column last appeared in August 2016.  He was one of my idols, one of the last of the great, honest, liberal journalists who pursued the truth wherever it led.  He was pro-life, which could have easily gotten him banished from the circles in which he traveled.  He called out Communist infiltration of institutions.  He was fiercely pro-freedom.  I don't know of anyone like him today.

ATTACK ON MONICA – FROM CNN:   Conservative author and television personality Monica Crowley, whom Donald Trump has tapped for a top national security communications role, plagiarized large sections of her 2012 book, a CNN KFile review has found.  The review of Crowley’s June 2012 book, "What The (Bleep) Just Happened," found upwards of 50 examples of plagiarism from numerous sources, including the copying with minor changes of news articles, other columnists, think tanks, and Wikipedia. The New York Times bestseller, published by the HarperCollins imprint Broadside Books, contains no notes or bibliography.
Crowley did not return a request for comment. Multiple requests for comment by phone and email over the past two days to HarperCollins went unreturned.  Crowley, a syndicated radio host, columnist, and, until recently, a Fox News contributor, will serve as Trump’s senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council.  Obviously, these are serious charges, and the Trump team has an obligation to look at them carefully.  Was it really plagiarism, or did Crowley have the personal permission of others to use their material?  It's been my experience that plagiarism and other literary crimes are only taken seriously when they are charged against conservatives.  Liberal offenses are swept under the hand-made Native American rug.  There'll be more to this story.

January 7,  2017