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

ONE HAND CLAPPING – That's pretty much the reaction of Democrats to the possibility of a Joe Biden candidacy.  From Reuters:   Almost half of US Democrats want the vice president to enter the field and challenge front-runner Hillary Clinton, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll...The declared Democratic presidential candidates, including Clinton and US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, her closest rival, will take the stage Tuesday night in Las Vegas for the first party debate.  Biden will not be there, but 48 percent of Democrats surveyed in the Reuters poll wish he were a candidate, compared with 30 percent who said he should stay out. Independents were split on the question, with 36 percent saying Biden should stay in and an equal share believing otherwise.  Not exactly an electric reaction when less than half your party wants you even to run. 

LIBERALS SHOCKED – From beliefnet.com:   According to a study in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, which cites the Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the United Nations International Study on Firearms Regulation, the more guns a nation has, the less criminal activity.  In other words, more firearms, less crime, concludes the virtually unpublicized research report by attorney Don B. Kates and Dr. Gary Mauser. But the key is firearms in the hands of private citizens.  “The study was overlooked when it first came out in 2007,” writes Michael Snyder, “but it was recently re-discovered and while the findings may not surprise some, the place where the study was undertaken is a bit surprising. The study came from the Harvard Journal of Law, that bastion of extreme, Ivy League liberalism.  I wonder if the people who wrote the report are still alive.

MORE MADNESS IN WASHINGTON – From the Washington Examiner:   The U.S. is moving forward with plans to remove its Patriot missile defense systems from Turkey despite recent escalations in the region, including Iran testing a new long-range ballistic missile over the weekend.  Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan announced on Sunday the successful test of the newest Iran-made long-range missile, dubbed the "Emad," or Pillar, that could likely reach Turkey. In addition, the Russians are playing a greater role in the Syrian civil war, raging along Turkey's border.  Despite that, the U.S. is continuing with plans made in August to remove all Patriot missile defense systems from Turkey, a defense official said Monday.  We could formally surrender to the Russians and avoid all these distractions, don't you think?

October 12, 2015