SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:40 P.M. ET: 

PROTECTING FANS – From Fox:  More guns are needed at NFL games to keep fans safe, according to the nation's largest police union -- which recently asked the league commissioner to let certain firearms owners pack heat on Sundays.  The National Fraternal Order of Police has asked the NFL to lift its ban on fans carrying guns at games, at least for retired and off-duty law enforcement officers who hold permits to carry concealed weapons. In a letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell, FOP President Chuck Canterbury said armed cops are the best bet for stopping a terrorist attack inside a stadium.  “Today, I am writing on behalf of the members of the Fraternal Order of Police to urge you to rescind this policy, which weakens the safety and security of NFL players, personnel and fans,” read the Nov. 20 letter, which was reported by BuckeyeFirearms.org. “The terrorist attacks and threats of attacks from organizations like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) are selecting targets based on the amount of death and injury they can inflict -- mass murder and casualty events.  Sounds very reasonable to me, and a deterrent to terror and crime.  Of course, the officers would have to be carefully vetted, but that should be no problem. 

TRUE?  FROM THE TIMES OF ISRAEL –  US special forces are actively engaged in fighting against the Islamic State group in Iraq, according to Kurdish peshmerga fighters, despite official US policy that says its soldiers are only training and advising local militias, the Guardian reported on Monday.  Kurdish fighters showed the Guardian video clips in which Western-looking men were seen firing various weapons at IS militants in different firefights in northern Iraq.  “They fight and they even fight ahead of the peshmerga,” a Kurdish fighter named Karwan Hama Tata said. “They won’t allow anyone to take photos of them, but they take photos of everyone.”  The peshmerga fighters refused to allow the videos be published, the report said.  According to the Kurdish fighters, US special forces have been involved in the fighting for several months including in a battle on April 20 to retake Dawus al Aloka village. Attempts to retake the villages of Wastana and Saddam on June 11 and August 26 also saw US personnel in combat against the jihadists, although IS maintained control of the towns.  If true, Field Marshal Obama better go on TV and explain it.  Looks like the same kind of mission creep we experienced in Vietnam.  It may well be the right move, but it must be discussed with the American people.

HMMM – From CNN:  Washington (CNN) Hillary Clinton was joined by 13 of the 14 Democratic women of the U.S. Senate at a fundraiser that amounted to a Monday night pep rally for the candidate who could become the first female president.  The Washington event was an attempt by the front-runner's campaign to flex its establishment muscle as the first caucuses and primaries draw closer, but one Democratic leader was notably missing from the stage that hosted all the women: Sen. Elizabeth Warren.  Clinton never mentioned Warren's absence -- and ignored the questions when asked about it after the event, instead choosing to focus on her platform and the future of women in the Senate.  As the story goes on to say, Warren has yet to endorse Clinton.  Is she waiting for the results of the FBI probe into Clinton's tenure at the State Department?  That would be logical.  Has she been tipped some inside information about the probe?  That would be logical as well.  An awful lot of people don't want Hillary Clinton to be president,

November 30,  2015