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

ARE WE SERIOUS HERE? – FROM REUTERS:   ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey warned its citizens about travel to the United States on Saturday in response to what the foreign ministry called increasingly violent protests against President-elect Donald Trump.  "Within the context of risks caused by the incidents and of social tension, our citizens who live in the U.S., or who are considering traveling there, should be cautious," the ministry said in a statement.   Maybe we can all retreat to the calm and safety of Islamic Turkey.

SHE'S BECOMING NUTS – FROM THE HILL:   Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg brought audiences to their feet at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in DC this weekend.  The 83-year-old justice played as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in the opera "The Daughter of the Regiment."
Ginsburg's lines had been rewritten so that she could play the role with 21st century relevance, reports USA Today.  While Ginsburg didn't sing, she got a warm reception, according to the LA Times.  One of the biggest laughs of the night came, according to the Times, came when Ginsburg appeared to reference the "birther" campaign against President Obama.  In asking whether the title character, Marie, was worthy of marrying her nephew, Ginsburg asked if she could produce a birth certificate.  "We must take precautions against fraudulent pretenders," she said.  Everyone should have a second profession.

REASONABLE – President-elect Trump, in his "Sixty Minutes" interview tonight, seemed to back off from threats to prosecute Hillary Clinton.  That's a wise move.  It would be incredibly unseemly, and thoroughly divisive, for a president to prosecute his recent opponent.  Sounds very third-world to me.  Besides, Clinton has suffered enough.  She's been beaten badly, and humiliated, and must surely know that her reputation for corruption had a great deal to do with it.  We'd be wiser to put the Clintons behind us.  I have no problem with Obama issuing a pardon, or even Trump doing it.  Then we can move on with the nation's business, as we did when Ford pardoned Nixon.  I know others will disagree, but there are many forms of just punishment, and public humiliation is one of them.

November 13, 2016