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

JEB IS IN – From The Hill:  "Jeb Bush formally announced his bid for the White House on Monday with a speech that sought to tie Hillary Clinton closely to President Obama and his policies.  Bush, 62, suggested in an address at Miami Dade College that Clinton would be untested in the Democratic primary and if she won her party’s nomination would represent Obama’s third term.  'I, for one, am not eager to see what another four years would look like under that kind of leadership,' Bush said to roaring applause from a crowd that included his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush. 'The presidency should not be passed on from one liberal to the next.'"  We have been critical of Bush for a meandering non-campaign, but Bush's speech today has gotten very favorable reviews.  He clearly wanted to show that he's a fighter, animated, and determined.  Good.  The more improvement, the better it is for the race.

HILLARY'S TROOPS DO IT AGAIN – From NRO:  "Another day, another acrimonious interaction between the Clinton campaign and the press.  On Monday, as Hillary Clinton swung through New Hampshire, her staffers denied the designated print-pool reporter for the day, a man whose coverage has proven bothersome to the Clinton campaign, access to a breakfast event in Manchester. They then turned away journalists from a community meeting in Rochester, telling them to consult the pool report instead.  Pool reporters are responsible for providing coverage of campaign events that the rest of the press-corps can rely on if they are unable to attend. On Monday, David Martosko, the U.S. political editor for the Daily Mail, drove up to a Manchester restaurant to cover Clinton’s early-morning breakfast meeting there, on the understanding that he was the designated print-pool reporter for the day’s events. He was met by Meredith Thatcher, a press staffer with 'Hillary for New Hampshire,' who told him that wasn’t the case...The Daily Mail editor has proven a thorn in the Clinton campaign’s side, asking uncomfortable questions about the Benghazi attack during her last trip to New Hampshire and disparaging the favorable coverage of Hillary’s campaign relaunch this past Saturday."  You'd think by now that the Clinton troopers would realize that this is America, not one of the authoritarian countries they apparently prefer.  Frankly, I hope they keep it up.  Let the press turn on Hillary.  We will smile.

CHILLING – For more than two decades the great New York Police Department has worked, with spectacular effectiveness, to reduce crime.  Murder in New York City declined 80%.   Now murder is up again, and what is being done?  The federal government is moving in to "help."  Strange.  New York didn't need its help before.  From CBS:  "NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Bullet-riddled windows, yellow crime scene tape, and evidence markers denoting where shell casings fell on the sidewalk are becoming all-too-familiar sights on New York City streets.  Now in an unprecedented move, a federal agency is joining the effort to get gun crimes under control, CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported Monday.  Kramer is told it was a collective decision made by the federal government, the NYPD, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  Those agencies are mounting a first-ever anti-gun initiative in high-crime areas."  Why do I suspect that this is part of a general plan to federalize law enforcement?  I suspect it because the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, is a socialist and a Fidelista.  It would be logical for him to ask for this, hoping the feds will eventually control what the NYPD does.  Look at how the feds are moving into Baltimore.  Gives me the chills.

June 15,  2015