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1.) BREAKING: Massachusetts is a liberal state — A Democrat wins in a very Democratic state. It’s the shot heard ’round the nowhere. TheDC’s Alexis Levinson reports:
“Democratic Rep. Ed Markey will be the next Senator from Massachusetts. The 37-year-old veteran of Congress easily beat Republican businessman and former Navy SEAL Gabriel Gomez in the special election Tuesday. The Senate seat was vacated by former Sen. John Kerry when he became Secretary of State. … The last time Massachusetts held a special election, things went very differently for Republicans. Scott Brown pulled off a surprise victory, upsetting Democratic Attorney General Martha Coakley to become the next Massachusetts Senator. He lost his seat to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren last year.”
In 2010, Massachusetts Republicans got Scott Brown. In 2014, they got a frown. (Hey, that rhymes!) And they are used to more frowns than Scott Browns.
2.) With friends like these… — This guy is perhaps not the person you want advising the U.S. on terrorism, TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:
“An Islamic scholar who serves as vice president of an organization that supports the terrorist group Hamas and whose president sanctioned the killing of American soldiers in Iraq met with senior Obama administration officials at the White House earlier this month. In a posting on his website, brought to The Daily Caller’s attention by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah revealed that he met at the White House on June 13 with Gayle Smith, senior director of the National Security Council, and Rashad Hussain, President Obama’s special envoy Organization of the Islamic Conference, among other officials.”
Read on to see Bin Bayyah’s troubling background.
3.) Weiner rising — Even when you’re not trying to make a pun on his name, you somehow end up making a pun on his name. TheDC’s Alexis Levinson reports:
“Two years ago, Anthony Weiner was a political pariah. Today, he is the front-runner in the race to become the next mayor of New York City. An NBC 4/Wall Street Journal poll conducted by Marist released Tuesday found Weiner leading the Democratic primary field with 25 percent of the vote. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, considered the front-runner for the race before Weiner jumped in, gets 20 percent. In the last Marist poll at the end of May, Quinn led Weiner 24 percent to 19 percent.”
Lesson: If you are a politico from New York City, tweet whatever the hell you want. Literally. Whatever. You. Want. Your constituents just won’t care.
4.) The dirty dozen –More alarming news about the IRS targeting conservative groups from TheDC’s Patrick Howley:
“Twelve different groups within the IRS’ targeting of conservative organizations applying for tax-exempt nonprofit status, according to the attorneys representing tea party plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the IRS. The revelation disproves the suggestion by a top congressional Democrat that only one IRS group was responsible for scrutinizing tea party and conservative applications. Group 7821, Group 7822, Group 7823, Group 7824, Group 7827, Group 7828, Group 7829, Group 7830, Group 7838, EOG-7887, and EOG-7888, and the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division in Washington, D.C. all targeted conservative groups between 2010 and 2012, according to documentation compiled by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which has filed a class-action suit against the IRS.”
A bunch of different groups of low level staffers apparently made an error. Nothing to see here.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Richard Engel: Just back from #syria. Hardly saw rebel three star flags. Lots of black banners at checkpoints
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s Visit to Mongolia Marked”
VIDEO: Dogs welcoming home soldiers will melt your cold heart