SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:57 P.M. ET: 

ANOTHER DROP – The Dow went down almost 470 points today, hardly a way to greet a new month.  There is still plenty of apprehension about bumpy economic conditions around the world, from Greece to China.  A Dow downturn several weeks ago led to a brief recovery, but we're in the doldrums again.  We'll watch the market closely tomorrow, Wednesday.

CARLY VICTORIOUS – Carly Fiorina has won her battle to have CNN revise its criteria for who gets into the "senior" Republican debate on September 16th.  From the Washington Times:  Mrs. Fiorina, the lone woman in the GOP presidential field, waged a public campaign skewering CNN and the Republican National Committee for selection rules she argued might keep her off the next presidential debate’s main stage, even as she was rising in the polls.  On Tuesday, the pressure tactic paid off for her, even if it ruffled some inside the GOP.  CNN announced it was revising the criteria it plans to use for Republican candidates to participate in the second party-sanctioned debate this month at the Reagan Library in California, acknowledging the change could open the door for Mrs. Fiorina to participate.  It isn't a lock, but the new criteria will almost certainly mean that Carly, a terrific campaigner, will be in the prime-time "senior" debate, rather than in the also-ran session earlier in the evening.  She's earned the spot.

ANOTHER GREAT SOCIAL ADVANCE – From Reuters:   The number of U.S. college students smoking marijuana every day or nearly every day is greater than it has been in 35 years, according to a study released on Tuesday.  Nearly 6 percent of college students reported using pot daily or near-daily in 2014, up from 3.5 percent in 2007 but less than the 7.2 percent recorded in 1980, the University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study found.  Less frequent pot smoking was also on the rise, according to the study, although not as sharply.  "It's clear that for the past seven or eight years there has been an increase in marijuana use among the nation's college students," said Lloyd Johnston, the study's principal author. "And this largely parallels an increase we have been seeing among high school seniors."  Yet, there seems little public concern.  Hey, man, how can a little pot hurt?  Y'know what I mean, man?  I wonder if this trend is affecting our auto accident rate.

September 1,  2015