SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:56 P.M. ET:

ST. LOUIS INCIDENT – Trouble in the gateway city.  From Fox:  Nine people were arrested and St. Louis police used tear gas to clear a street of protesters after an armed man fleeing from officers serving a search warrant was shot and killed Wednesday.  Approximately 150 people gathered at the scene of the shooting late Wednesday, many of them hurling obscene gestures and expletives at investigators and questioning the police use of deadly force. St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said tear gas was used after protesters threw glass bottles and rocks at police. Some chanted "Black Lives Matter," a mantra used a year ago after the police shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in nearby Ferguson.  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that a vacant home had been set on fire near the scene. Dotson also said that officers were responding to reports of burglaries in the area.  I hope the "news" organizations get facts right before reports go to the public. 

EMBARRASSING – From The Wall Street Journal:   Buyers of luxury condos have a new place to park their cash: in their parking spots.  In cities like San Francisco, New York and Boston, parking prices have reached an all-time high. At least two new developments in Manhattan are asking $1 million for a single parking spot. Condominium developers are touting parking spaces with glossy brochures and promotional videos, marketing the small patches of concrete as luxury amenities.  I think even passionate supporters of free enterprise are getting disgusted with this kind of excess. 

HE'LL PROBABLY BLAME BUSH – From CNN:   Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts (CNN) Ten years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, President Barack Obama will visit the city next week to tour neighborhoods and meet with families still recovering from the devastation.  He'll meet with Mayor Mitch Landrieu to discuss rebuilding efforts and deliver remarks promoting economic innovation in the storm's aftermath, the White House said Wednesday.  When Obama took office in 2009, the effects of the storm four years earlier were still readily seen in New Orleans, where entire neighborhoods were condemned after flooding.  What a waste of taxpayers' money.  Obama is really going to draw attention to what his cronies charge was President Bush's negligence in handling Katrina.  In fact, Bush did a fine job.  It was the local mayor and governor who failed miserably.  But the liberal press made Bush into the scapegoat and has never corrected the story.

August 19, 2015