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1.) WE’RE DOOMED! — That’s what Jonathan V. Last argues in his new book, “What to Expect When No One’s Expecting: America’s Coming Demographic Disaster.” Last says that America’s declining fertility rate doesn’t bode well for the USA. But TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein asks, is decline inevitable? Last says that would be his bet:
“Nothing is inevitable. Trends change. We could collectively choose to start having more kids tomorrow and all of these problems would disappear. All of that said, take a look around modern America. Does this look like a country where we value the continued health of Western civilization? Or does it look like a place where people would rather fall asleep watching football? Look—no judgments here. I like football naps, too. I love the child-free yuppie paradise. It’s great. Which is why I’ll take ‘inevitable decline,’ plus the points.”
Read the rest of the interview. It’s a doozy.
“Americans for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist says that large-scale immigration is good for America and the Republican Party — and that critics of easy immigration should get out of the way. ‘There are a whole bunch of people who are listening to loud voices, some of whom claim to be Republican … talking about [employers] who didn’t fill out the paperwork, about going after [an immigrant’s] aunt,’ said Norquist, whose opposition to tax increases has made him popular among Republicans and a hate-figure among progressives. Once advocates for tighter immigration are sidelined, the GOP will be able to win votes from Hispanics and other recent immigrants, he said.”
The Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee, however, is already projecting the added cost to Obamacare if comprehensive immigration reform is passed, TheDC Caroline May reports. But TheDC’s Matt Lewis reports that Marco Rubio is pushing to make sure that those given provisional legal status in any comprehensive immigration bill will not be eligible for Obamacare.
3.) Fighting for an irrelevancy — A long-time gun crime expert testified Monday that proposed bans on so-called assault weapons and high capacity magazines won’t do very much. TheDC’s Patrick Howley reports:
“The forensic scientist for the Bridgeport, Conn. Police Department sharply criticized proposed assault weapon and high-capacity magazine bans and pointed out the small number of crimes committed by high-capacity weapons in public hearing testimony last week. Marshall K. Robinson, who said his area of expertise is “firearm and tool mark identification,” testified at the Gun Violence Prevention Working Group, which was convened at the Connecticut State Capitol in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. There he opposed statements from many of the other 1,300 speakers in attendance advocating for banning high-capacity AR-15 and AK-47 firearms. Robinson pointed out that less than two percent of the firearms he has examined since 1996 that have been linked to violent crime in Bridgeport have been the caliber of AR-15 or AK-47 weapons.”
4.) Noam Chomsky hearts totalitarianism — Even in his late age, Noam Chomsky is living up to his reputation as an anti-American, dictator-boosting radical. TheDC’s Caroline May reports:
“In an interview with the Iranian-state run English language news network PressTV, activist and MIT linguistics professor Noam Chomsky compared former Secretary of State Colin Powell to Nazi war criminal Joachim von Ribbentrop. ‘Yes, [starting a war of aggression] was a major factor in the hanging of Nazi war criminals,’ Chomsky says in a clip of the interview, which was provided to The Daily Caller by the Middle East Media Research Institute. … ‘How about Colin Powell?’ he then asks rhetorically. ‘He justified a preemptive war against no threat. So if von Ribbentrop was hanged…You know…Okay, fill it out.'”
This is moral idiocy of the highest order. And remember, friends, Chomsky is treated almost like a deity on the left.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — davidfrum: Advice to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: If your country’s space program requires martyrs, you’re doing it wrong.
6.) Today in North Korean News –BREAKING: “Greetings to Sri Lankan President”
VIDEO: Homeless, hatchet-wielding hitchhiker comes to the rescue