SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

THOSE STINGY AMERICANS – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:    A GoFundMe page set up to pay off the mortgage on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s $14.6 million California estate has gone bust — after raising a measly $110, a report says.  Anastasia Hanson, 56, of California told Britain’s The Sun that she started the fundraising effort because she seriously felt sorry for the multimillionaire royal couple — after Harry publicly whined to Oprah Winfrey about being financially cut off by the Palace.  “When they came to the USA, they were without jobs and with limited funds,” said Hanson, who lives about 25 minutes from the princely pair’s palatial estate in swanky Montecito.  “They’ve stated that they’ve had a very rough time, so this fundraiser is a way to give help, compassion, and love by paying their home loan in full.”  In Markle and the prince’s bombshell TV sit-down last week, Harry defended their inking of a multitude of uber-lucrative media deals since leaving royal life, saying, “My family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us.”  Hanson’s online bid to try to financially help the royals was started a few days ago — and shut down by Saturday after just three donations, The Sun said.  Is this a serious story?  I really don't know, but it was too good to ignore.  I'm proud of the fact that only three Americans fell for this stuff.

DISGRACEFUL – FROM BIZPACREVIEW.COM:    California Gov. Gavin Newsom assured MSNBC host Joy Reid during an interview Monday that he would fill Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat with a black woman should she decide to retire.  “I have multiple names in mind. We have multiple names in mind — and the answer is yes,” Newsom, a Democrat who is facing a recall over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, assured Reid, who suggested that an “African-American” woman should be chosen to replace Vice President Kamala Harris.  Feinstein, who has served as a Democratic senator from California since 1992, has not indicated she is preparing to retire. But several Democrats belonging to the party’s more leftist faction have increased calls for her to step down after she angered them over her handling of Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court hearings. Feinstein was civil in her dealings with Barrett and even praised then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) for his handling of the hearings.  Newsom is in trouble, and is facing a recall election.  How sickening to see him grovel like this to get support – pledging to appoint someone to the U.S. Senate if Sen. Feinstein retires, based strictly on that person's race and gender.  This is identity politics at its worst.

March 16, 2021