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1.) A Deadfare State — You’ve heard of welfare. Now learn about dead fare. TheDC’s Caroline May reports:
“An audit of the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) issued Tuesday revealed millions of dollars in ‘questionable benefits,’ including millions paid out to dead people. According to Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump, the audit identified 1,164 cases in which welfare recipients continued to receive benefits from six to 27 months after they had died. These dead individuals received $2.39 million in total.”
Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you aren’t entitled to money from the government. Big government at its best.
2.) Obama vs Christie — First President Obama misses jump shot after jump shot. Now he loses an athletic contest to Chris Christie. TheDC’s Alexis Levinson reports:
“When President Barack Obama visited the Jersey Shore on Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got him a gift: a stuffed bear, which Christie won using his superior athletic prowess at an arcade in Point Pleasant. Obama traveled to New Jersey to survey parts of the state damaged by Hurricane Sandy Christie. One of their first stops of the day, according to the pool report, was an arcade called ‘TouchDown Fever’ on the Point Pleasant Boardwalk, where Obama made several attempts to win himself a prize. It was a feat that could be accomplished by successfully throwing a football through a tire. Obama’s efforts were unsuccessful. He ‘missed a few times.’ Christie then took a turn, and threw a clean pass through the tire, ‘on his first and only try.'”
TheDC Morning repeats: President Obama lost an athletic contest to Chris Christie — or, more accurately, a kind-of athletic contest.
3.) Bachmann makes a surprise announcement — Minnesota congresswoman and tea party firebrand Michele Bachmann made a surprise announcement that she will not run for reelection. TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:
“Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann announced early Wednesday morning that she will not run for a fifth term in Congress. Bachmann, who ran for president in 2012, made the announcement in a YouTube video. ‘The law limits anyone from serving as president of the United States for more than eight years, and in my opinion, well, eight years is also long enough for an individual to serve as a representative for a specific Congressional district,’ she said.”
4.) Luv for the guvs? — With the Obama scandals, TheDC’s Matt Lewis writes argues that the most political benefit will go to GOP governors:
“Who stands to gain most from the Obama scandals? So far, the reputations of investigative journalists like Sharyl Attkisson have benefited. And some House Republicans like Reps. Darrel Issa, Trey Gowdy, and Jim Jordan are gaining wider exposure. But if the scandals continue to dominate the headlines (and it’s too soon to know how this will play out), the big winners will probably not be the Republicans who are leading the charge. Instead, the big winners may be the governors who run for president in 2016.”
Read to see his full argument.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Jose Canseco: You can sell bags of poop if you call it fertilizer
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “King Jong Un Sends Birthday Spreads to Persons of Merit”
VIDEO: E.J. Dionne says ‘It’s just not easy being Barack Obama’