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1.)Congressman Ellison (D-Fantasy Land) — Rep. Keith Ellison doesn’t think the FBI should be focusing a bit more on Muslims than other religious denominations. TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:
“‘Well, I’m an American, and I’m concerned about national safety, public safety, just like everyone is,’ Ellison said. ‘But I think it’s ineffective law enforcement to go after a particular community. I think what we need to do is look at behavior and follow those leads where they would lead. So, like if Tamerlan Tsarnaev is evidencing dangerous behavior, by all means, go after him. But once you start saying we’re going to dragnet or surveil a community, what you do is you ignore dangerous threats that are not in that community and you go after people who don’t have anything to do with it.’ ‘And so let me just finish up with this one point,’ he continued. ‘And so this ricin attack, for example, that’s an act of terrorism. That doesn’t come out of the Muslim community. We don’t have enough law enforcement resources to just go after one community and, remember, we went after a community in World War II, and the Japanese interment is a national stain on our country, and we are still apologizing for it.'”
And with the internment camp comparison, Ellison wins today’s “debate a strawman” contest. Congrats, Rep. Ellison.
2.) Should the U.S. send troops into Syria? — The short answer is no. The long answer is no. But Claire McCaskill thinks differently. TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:
“On Sunday’s broadcast of CBS’s ‘Face the Nation,’ Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill told host Bob Schieffer that the United States should not ‘rule out’ sending troops into Syria. The exchange follows reports that chemical weapons have been used against Syrian rebels by the Assad regime. ‘I don’t think you want to ever rule it out because I think this is kind of— as [George Republican Sen.] Saxby [Chambliss] said, this thing has really deteriorated, and it’s not really at a tipping point,’ McCaskill replied. ‘So I don’t think you ever want to say absolutely not. Obviously, we don’t want to do that unless it’s absolutely necessary.'”
Syria is a tricky conflict. On one hand, Syria is a strategic ally of Iran, which would suggest that the end of the Syrian regime would be a positive for the U.S. On the other hand, the leading challengers to Assad appear to be radical Islamists, including those with ties to al-Qaida. And caught in the middle are civilians. What does one do? It’s a tough call, but sending American troops strikes TheDC Morning as not the wisest course of action.
3.) Bullying common sense — This is America, in all its PC glory. The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Robby Soave reports:
“After enacting the strictest anti-bullying law in the country, the state of New Jersey must now hold trials for kids who call each other names on the playground. An eighth-grader in the village of Ridgewood who allegedly called a girl ‘horse,’ ‘fat,’ and ‘fat ass’ is just one of a dozen cases that suggest the 2011 law went too far in criminalizing bullying, according to The Star-Ledger. The boy denied calling his classmate any name other than ‘horse.’ The boy probably should get the death penalty. “
#insanity
4.) Pouncing on the president –The GOP begged President Obama to address our entitlement spending. Now, some in the GOP are attacking the president for taking a step in that direction in his recent budget. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:
“But far from condemn Walden, Gohmert told The Daily Caller Wednesday that he ‘agreed with him.’ ‘I mean, one of the things that I think most Republicans had agreed with was that we did not want to do anything to hurt people over 55,’ Gohmert said. ‘We need to reform Social Security, but it needs to be done in such a way that we don’t hurt people 55 and older who counted on it and had lived with that assurance it would be there. And for those under 55, we got to make some big changes and that way we can make sure young people have a Social Security when they get there. But we weren’t supposed to hurt anybody that’s over 55. So I thought Greg was exactly right.’ Gohmert says he sees no hypocrisy in the attack on the president’s entitlement reform proposal. ‘Well, naturally, the president put forward entitlement reform that broke promises that Republicans had made so I would have thought that would be an area that we could actually agree on,’ he said.”
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — KimJongNumberUn: My solution to the immigration problem is simple. No one is allowed to leave.
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Kim Jong Un’s Report Carried Mozambican Paper”
VIDEO: President Obama was very funny at White House Correspondents Dinner