1.) Occupy Irrelevancy! — TheDC’s Michelle Fields visited the May Day Occupy protests in New York, video camera in tow, and documented a steady stream of inanity, or if you prefer, poppycock. As the left-wing movement strives for relevancy, the only thing that remains coherent about it seems to be its incoherency. Still baffled by exactly what Occupy is demanding? This video won’t exactly help you figure it out. But you will laugh, cry and fall in love all over again with the unwashed masses that stole your heart with their vapidity just a few months ago. Actually, scratch the cry and fall in love part. Mainly you’ll just laugh. Watch the video. If you have children, show it to them as an example of what they shouldn’t become. Finally, pass it along to your friends and have them repeat the process.
2.) An unwanted Indian summer for a certain Massachusetts Senate candidate — A former U.S. Senator who had the distinction of being the only Native American in the august body weighs in on the controversy surrounding Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, who previously claimed she was Native American when she was a law professor, but has so far been able to prove that her great-great-great grandmother was a Cherokee. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“It would not have been ‘appropriate’ for Massachusetts Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren to claim to be an American Indian minority if she did so solely to get a professional advantage, says a former U.S. senator who was once the only Native American in Congress. ‘I think if she used it just to get some kind of advantage — whatever it was — like a job application or something, then that’s probably not appropriate,’ former Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell told The Daily Caller in an interview on Tuesday.”
In a funny twist to the story, TheDC’s Alex Pappas explains that if Warren turns out to actually have Indian heritage, she may have lived in Boston illegally — at least up until 2005 — due to an antiquated law from colonial times that was never taken off the books that banned “Native Americans from entering the city.” Fortunately, that arch-progressive Mitt Romney came to the rescue of the city’s Native Americans by repealing the law during his term as the state’s governor.
3.) Netanyahu soaring — Live from Israel, renowned academic of the Middle East Barry Rubin explains for TheDC why Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu remains popular in the Jewish state:
“Israel is apparently going to have elections this autumn. When it does, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will almost certainly win by a big margin. The reasons for that reveal a lot about Israel, a country that many people think they understand but few actually do … One reason for Likud’s strength is that Israel is doing pretty well. True, it faces serious security problems, but that’s the norm for Israel. Indeed, with no other trusted leader on the horizon, Netanyahu is the person most trusted to manage Israel’s dangerous security situation.”
It is probably safe to say that Netanyahu is a tad more popular in Israel than he is in the current White House.
4.) The Dems are the problem — Two prominent think tank intellectuals lambasted the Republican Party in a high-profile Washington Post op-ed, claiming that the GOP is out of the mainstream and the real problem in Washington, in contrast to the Democrats. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein (ME!) points out in an op-ed that on the single most important domestic issue facing America — entitlement reform — it has only been the GOP that has addressed it seriously while the Democrats have been MIA:
“And what of the Democrats? Every single one voted against the Ryan plan. Not a single serious proposal to fix our long-term fiscal situation has been supported by Democratic leaders. Most recently, the president was seen prancing around the country promoting the Buffett Rule on millionaires, which may make some in his base feel good but doesn’t even qualify for the laugh test, never mind pass it, as a serious proposal to fix our budgetary problems. That’s what the Democrats are offering: political gimmickry. And for this, [Norm] Ornstein and [Thomas] Mann essentially say they are the reasonable party. Meanwhile, the GOP has at least tried to address our looming fiscal crisis (even if I think they could have gone further). It’s worth repeating: nearly the entire House put their name on a politically risky proposal in order to save us from going over the fiscal cliff! In return, two high profile think tank intellectuals call the GOP legislators the radical ones.”
5.) Poll of the Day: Surprising percentage of Americans believe world coming to end within lifetime — Reuters/Ipsos poll asks Americans whether they agree with the statement, “I believe the world will be coming to an end during my lifetime”: 6% Strongly Agree, 15% Somewhat Agree, 24% Somewhat Disagree, 54% Strongly Disagree. Further, 13% of Americans said they agreed — either strongly or somewhat — that “the Mayan calendar, which some say ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world.”
6.) Tweet of Yesterday — @nick_ayers: Who says this Afghan trip is purely political? Perhaps the President simply had a craving for dog. Give the man a break.
VIDEO: SNL alum Jon Lovitz explains why he thinks Obama is lying on taxes