SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:58 P.M. ET: 

I'M SO RELIEVED – From ABC:    Flanked by his national security team, President Obama reassured Americans that there was "no specific, credible threat" against the country ahead of the holidays.  "We do not have any specific and credible information about an attack on the homeland," Obama said today at the National Counterterrorism Center. "That said, we have to be vigilant."  Obama said security experts are constantly hard at work putting up safeguards to prevent terrorists from entering the country, while at the same time bringing the fight to terrorists plotting overseas.  Well, that certainly satisfies me.  If there were going to be an attack, wouldn't we have credible information about it?  Maps?  Exact locations and plans?  Didn't we have clear information before 9-11?  Fort Hood?  San Bernardino?  Oh, uh, maybe I'd better rethink this.

HE'S BAAACK – At least for a few hours.  From Breitbart:   Hyper-liberal Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore challenged Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump by holding a sign reading “We Are All Muslim” outside Trump Tower on Wednesday before penning an open letter to the candidate on Facebook...“We are all Muslim. Deal with it,” Moore concluded.  Moore has become increasingly vocal about his dislike for the Republican frontrunner; last week, he invited Facebook followers to report Trump for “hate speech” in an effort to have him banned from the social media service.  In an interview with the Daily Beast the day before his latest stunt, Moore said Trump should embrace his “female side.”  Moore might consider embracing his grown-up side, but would have considerable difficulty finding it.

BERNIE AIN'T FINISHED – From Buzzfeed:  WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders added more progressive grassroots support to his campaign Thursday, picking up the endorsement of the Vermont-based Democracy For America, which was founded out of Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign.  The endorsement gives the Vermont senator another big piece of the organized progressive movement to leverage for fundraising and grassroots organizing. It’s the first time DFA has endorsed in a Democratic primary since its founding, and the group pledged Thursday to throw its weight behind Sanders as the homestretch to the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries begins in earnest.  It’s an especially sweet addition to Sanders’ lengthy list of lefty boosters thanks to the way the endorsement came about. DFA asked its members to vote for who the group should endorse, as it does for most of its political endorsements. Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley each made direct appeals to DFA members. Dean, who founded the group and backs Clinton, wrote an email to DFA voters on her behalf: “I hope that Hillary will be your choice,” Dean wrote.  Unless Hillary is indicted, she probably has the nomination sewn up.  If she is indicted, Obama will engineer a Democratic Party coup by Joe Biden.  Bernie is a sentimental favorite, but he has little support among the minorities who have veto power over Democratic nominations.

December 17,  2015