SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:16 P.M. ET: 

OH PLEASE! – FROM AP:  Neither Bill Clinton nor James Patterson has ever tried something like this before.  The former president and the best-selling novelist are collaborating on a thriller, "The President is Missing," to come out June 2018 as an unusual joint release from rival publishers — Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and Co. In a statement Monday provided to The Associated Press, the publishers called the book "a unique amalgam of intrigue, suspense and behind-the-scenes global drama from the highest corridors of power. It will be informed by details that only a president can know."  Knopf has long been Clinton's publisher, and Patterson has been with Little, Brown for decades. "The President is Missing" is the first work of fiction by Clinton, whose best-known book is the million-selling "My Life." For Patterson, it's the chance to team up with a friend who knows as well as anyone about life in the White House.  Actually, it's a good idea.  Clinton can instruct Patterson on how you get away with a lot of very bad stuff, including lying under oath.  I can't wait.

HUGE – FROM BLOOMBERG:  Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. is buying Tribune Media Co. for about $3.9 billion, a deal made possible after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted last month to ease a limit on TV-station ownership in the U.S.  Sinclair will pay $43.50 a share to gain Tribune TV stations in big media markets like New York, Chicago and Miami, strengthening its hand in negotiations with pay-TV distributors and major broadcast networks like 21st Century Fox Inc.  The marriage of Sinclair and Tribune, two of the largest local TV station owners in the U.S., creates a U.S. broadcasting behemoth to face down online competitors vying for a piece of the local advertising pie.  We've watched Sinclair become a major factor in broadcasting.  One of their on-air stars is the great Sharyl Attkisson, the former CBS reporter who refused to go along with the mainstream media's party line, and now reports independently.  We hope this move boosts her.

NEW SCARE IN FRANCE – FROM AP:  Police poured into Paris' Gare du Nord station late Monday, evacuating passengers from platforms and sealing off the area for several hours in a new security scare to hit the French capital.  Paris police spokeswoman Johanna Primevert told The Associated Press that the operation was aimed at "removing doubt" and ended with no arrests, but she would not say what prompted it. A station employee said the operation focused on a train from Valenciennes in northern France.  The busy station is the terminus of a large suburban and national rail network as well as Eurostar trains from London.
France is under a state of emergency imposed after a series of Islamic extremist attacks. The operation came the day after a tense and closely watched presidential election that was won by independent Emmanuel Macron, who has said one of his top priorities will be ensuring France's security.  Police started pouring into the station just after 11 p.m. and asked where the train from Valenciennes was, according to a station employee, who was not authorized to be publicly named. Station staff directed officers to platform 10, where they were quickly joined by more and more police. Within minutes, authorities began evacuating the entire station, the employee said.  France is on edge, and will remain so.  For whatever reason, it is a main focus of terrorist attacks, as it was in the 1980s.

May 8, 2017