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

IS THIS PROPER? – New Attorney General Loretta Lynch has been on the job about a week, and already she's parroting the Obama party line.  From AP:  "BALTIMORE (AP) -- Attorney General Loretta Lynch pledged Tuesday to improve the city's police department after meeting with the family of a man who was fatally injured in police custody.  'We're here to hold your hands and provide support,' Lynch said in a meeting with faith and community leaders, including members of Congress.  The new attorney general met privately at the University of Baltimore with Freddie Gray's family, days after the state's attorney charged six police officers involved in Gray's arrest. Gray's injury in police custody and death a week later sparked protests and riots that prompted Maryland's governor to bring in the National Guard."  There is an appearance of impropriety, of taking sides in a legal case to which the Justice Department is not a party.  I don't see a similar visit to the family of a New York City police officer slain over the weekend.  Police throughout the country cannot fail to get the message.

THAT'S NICE OF HER – From London's Daily Mail:  "Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed to testify this month on Capitol Hill about the terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and about her controversial practice of exclusively using a private email server while she was secretary of state.  Her lawyer David Kendall wrote to lawmakers Monday telling them she would agree to the request from a special panel investigating the September 2012 attacks that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya.  But Kendall said Clinton would testify only for one session. 'Respectfully,' he wrote, 'there is no basis, logic, or precedent for such an unusual request.'  The committee chairman, GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, had requested that she appear twice – once for a hearing on Clinton's use of private emails and again later on Benghazi.  Kendall said Clinton would answer all lawmakers' questions during one session and it would not be necessary for her to appear twice.   'The secretary is fully prepared to stay for the duration of the committee’s questions on the day she appears,' he wrote. "  That's so nice of her.  The four Americans killed won't be appearing at all. 

OREGON IS THE NEW SAN FRANCISCO – From theweek.com:  "There is a place where vegans can go and never have to worry about running across something derived from an animal: The world's first vegan mini-mall in Portland, Oregon.  Portland has a long history of supporting vegetarians and vegans, the Los Angeles Times reports. In the late 1800s, Seventh-Day Adventists, who shun meat, flocked to the Rose City, and today it even has a vegan strip club, where animal-free food is served and the dancers aren't allowed to don fur, leather, silk, or pearls."  And we thought Iranian nuclear weapons are important.

TRAVEL NEWS – From sun-sentinel.com:  "For the first time in five decades, the U.S. is allowing ferry service between Florida and Cuba.  At least four companies said they were notified Tuesday of approvals by the U.S. Treasury and Commerce departments, the first since Washington imposed a trade embargo on Cuba.  Licensed were Havana Ferry Partners of Fort Lauderdale, Baja Ferries of Miami, United Caribbean Lines Florida of Greater Orlando and Airline Brokers Co. of Miami and Fort Lauderdale."  I can't wait to go and see that Cuban health system.  I understand from college professors that no one ever dies.

May 5, 2015