SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET:

EXPLOITATION – FROM THE HILL:  A survivor of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., last month is now helping the Democratic National Committee (DNC) fundraise ahead of the midterm elections in an effort to back lawmakers who support gun control measures.   In a DNC email blast Saturday, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Sara Imam urged supporters to not forget the 17 students and faculty who died in the Feb. 14 school shooting and register to vote for the fall elections.  "This week the Democratic Party launched IWillVote -- a national campaign to organize voters and get them to the polls," Imam wrote in the party's release, which links to the DNC's voter registration page. Respondents who provide their information are then asked to donate money "to help Democrats win."   I guess we should praise kids for wanting to get involved in elections, but some of this is taking the form of exploitation.  We can sympathize with a survivor of a tragedy, however that doesn't mean we have to accept his or her arguments.  "Believe the children" has been, on too many occasions, a false rallying cry.  Children often ask the right questions and come up with the wrong answers.

TRUMP LAUGHS AT HIMSELF – FROM THE HILL:   President Trump on Saturday participated in the Gridiron Club Dinner's longstanding tradition of presidential speeches filled with self-deprecating humor, flinging barbs at his own administration as well as the usual targets.   Since its foundation in 1855, almost every president has attended the annual white tie dinner at least once during their administration. The club extends a standing invitation to the president every year.  The event is known for its roast-style speeches, skits and political comedy, with lawmakers and journalists going after one another throughout the dinner.  I'm glad he did it.  His best line: "I won't rule out direct talks with Kim Jong Un, I just won't. As far as the risk of dealing with a madman is concerned, that’s his problem not mine," Trump said. 

MADNESS – FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES:   Global warming skeptics, beware: A play with the alarming title “Kill Climate Deniers” may be coming to a theater near you.  Written by Australian playwright David Finnigan, “Kill Climate Deniers” kicked off Thursday the 2018 season of the Griffin Theatre in Sydney after a week of previews, with the final show scheduled for April 7.  The plot? “As a classic rock band take the stage in Parliament House’s main hall, 96 armed eco-terrorists storm the building and take the entire government hostage, threatening to execute everyone unless Australia ends global warming. Tonight,” said the play’s website.  The play was commissioned in 2014 with a $19,000 grant from the Australian government, but its first staging was shut down following a backlash led by conservative Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt.  “How does the ACT Government justify spending taxpayers’ money on a theatre work entitled ‘Kill Climate Deniers’?” asked Mr. Bolt in a column dated Sept. 30, 2014. “What sane Government donates to a project urging others to kill fellow citizens, even as a ‘joke’? Are these people mad?”  Yes, I'm afraid they're mad, and quite proud of it.  There are in fact people who believe that those who disagree with them should die.  These are people who play with fire, but who never take responsibility for the blaze that follows.

March 3,  2018