TheDC Morning

TheDC Morning: President Obama’s inauguration just got awesome

Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
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1.) President Obama’s inauguration just got awesome — Guess who’s coming to President Obama’s inauguration? TheDC’s David Martosko reports:

“When President Barack Obama attends his second inauguration in January, he’ll also be taking in the mystical powers of a spoon-bending, card-manipulating ‘mentalist’ named Alain Nu. The performer announced Monday evening on Facebook that he ‘was just invited to perform … [at] President Obama’s Inauguration January 21st!’ ‘I am helping to produce a much larger event at one of the several Inaugural locations, actually, and I will keep you all updated on some of the exciting news that transpires from all this,’ Nu added to his announcement a few hours later.”

Yes, Nu’s video reel is corny and — what’s the word? — stupid. Anybody that says this sentence sincerely, “I believe that it’s important to believe in all things no matter how outrageous,” deserves to be mocked. Really? All things? Obviously he doesn’t even believe that line because if he did he would have offed himself with the Heaven’s Gate cult long ago. BUT, your DC Morning facilitator once saw a “mentalist” and thought he was pretty impressive. If Nu can live up to that aforementioned performance, the inauguration might be worth crashing, Salahi-style.

2.) Mum on Morsi — The Obama administration is refraining from vocally criticizing Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi for granting himself dictatorial powers. TheDC’s Neil Munro reports:

“On Monday, President Barack Obama’s spokesman distanced the White House from Egypt’s democracy advocates who are now protesting an emerging Islamist coup in the country of 72 million people. ‘The transition to democracy will be achieved by the Egyptian people, not by the manner which we raise concerns. … It’s important to take a longer view here,’ spokesman Jay Carney announced at the Nov. 26 daily press conference. Carney refused to criticize Egypt’s Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, who gave himself dictatorial powers in a Nov. 22 edict.”

The longer view — that’s the ticket! How long are we talking? In Iran, those who wanted to take the longer view at the same point in that Islamic Revolution have been waiting 30 years for things to improve. So maybe we should just give this thing a few decades — maybe a century — and things will turn out just spiffy? How about not. Let’s start by calling a spade a spade. Then we can start the discussion of whether we should be funding an Islamist dictatorship.

3.) Good intentions, bad outcomes   A new book takes on racial preferences, not on the grounds they are unconstitutional, but on the grounds that they harm those they seek to help. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:

“The book’s authors — UCLA Law School Professor Richard Sander and National Journal columnist Stuart Taylor Jr. — make the case against racial preferences, but not on the grounds that they’re unconstitutional. They argue that racial preferences actually harm the beneficiaries by placing them in an academic environment they aren’t prepared for. ‘When a given student — let’s call her ‘Susan’ — receives a large admissions preference into an elite university, Susan is likely to be confronted with pretty intense competition,’ the authors explained in an email to The Daily Caller. ‘Most of the other students have much stronger academic preparation than Susan, and the professors are teaching towards the middle of the class, rather than the students like Susan who need to catch up. As a result, Susan is likely to struggle in the class, get a low grade, and actually learn less than she would have if she had attended a somewhat less elite school. That’s why we say that students receiving large preferences are often ‘mismatched.””

4.) And there is this …   — Female porno stars turn out to be surprisingly self-confident, according to a new study. TheDC’s Caroline May reports:

“The study published this month in the Journal of Sex Research found that the so called ‘damaged goods’ hypothesis of porno actresses does not necessarily hold water. ‘In terms of psychological characteristics, porn actresses had higher levels of self-esteem, positive feelings, social support, sexual satisfaction, and spirituality compared to the matched group,’ the abstract of the study, ‘Pornography Actresses: An Assessment of the Damaged Goods Hypothesis,’ reads.”

5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Larry King: How would Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly do on Dancing With The Stars?

6.) Today in North Korean News –BREAKING: “Juche Idea Study Committee of Democratic Congo Reviews Its Annual Work”

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Jamie Weinstein