SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 5:20 P.M. ET: 

MADNESS – FROM FOX:  Philadelphia has announced it will end a major information-sharing contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), bowing to intense pressure from activist groups and drawing immediate condemnation from federal officials.  The move means that the city will not renew a decade-long arrangement to share real-time arrest information with ICE when it expires at the end of August.
The information, contained in Philadelphia’s Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS), alerts authorities when new arrests are made, and includes arrestee's full names, countries of origin, and Social Security numbers. While PARS does not indicate immigration status, Democrats charged that ICE nevertheless abused the database to investigate potential immigration violations.  This is crazy.  It will lead to crime by illegals, all to satisfy activist extremists.  No way to run a city.

TROUBLE IN IRAN – FROM AFP:  Iran's currency hit a record low on Sunday of 100,000 rials to the dollar amid a deepening economic crisis and the imminent return of full US sanctions.  The unofficial rate stood at 102,000 rials by midday, according to Bonbast, one of the most reliable sites for tracking the Iranian currency.  The rate was confirmed by a trader who spoke on condition of anonymity to AFP.  The rial has lost half its value against the dollar in just four months, having broken through the 50,000-mark for the first time in March.  The government attempted to fix the rate at 42,000 in April, and threatened to crackdown on black market traders.  But the trade continued with Iranians worried about a prolonged economic downturn turning to dollars as a safe way to store their savings, or as an investment in the hope the rial will continue to drop.   Pressure by the United States is having its effect.  Maybe, at some point, the mullahs will conclude that they must make concessions to us on the highly flawed nuclear deal, and must curtail their missile program, to get the pressure eased.  Obama conceded far too much.

AT IT AGAIN – FROM THE STATESMAN:  Known as both the “father of Texas” and the namesake of the state’s capital, Stephen F. Austin carved out the early outlines of Texas among his many accomplishments.  He also opposed an attempt by Mexico to ban slavery in the province of Tejas and said if slaves were freed, they would turn into “vagabonds, a nuisance and a menace.”  For that reason, the city of Austin’s Equity Office suggested renaming the city in a report about existing Confederate monuments that was published this week.  Also on the list of locales to possibly be renamed: Pease Park, the Bouldin Creek neighborhood, Barton Springs and 10 streets named for William Barton, the “Daniel Boone of Texas,” who was a slave owner.  I can understand how African-Americans feel about things, places and schools named for slave owners.  The problem is, where does this end?  Slavery was abolished more than a century and a half ago.  Some founders of this country, and of cities and states, owned slaves.  Attitudes have since changed drastically.  Do we rename the Jefferson Memorial?  The city of Washington?  We can commemorate and explain at the same time.  And what happens to buildings named for flawed African-Americans?  There is Paul Robeson High School in New York, named for a brilliant black artist who also betrayed his country.  There is the King Memorial in Washington, named for a great black leader who also was disloyal to his wife.  Do we tear everything down?  Find me the perfect man.

July 29, 2018