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1.) Future ne’er-do-well born — There is a new heir to the heir of the throne. The AP reports:
“It’s a boy! Prince William’s wife, Kate, has given birth to a prince who is now third in line to the British throne. The child was born Monday afternoon, after many Britons woke up to the news that Kate, also known as the Duchess of Cambridge, had gone into labor with the couple’s first child. The royal birth announcement said the boy was born at 4:24 p.m. weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces. William was present for the birth, the statement said. The announcement did not include a name for the future monarch, though one is expected to be revealed in the coming days.”
It is probably not quite fair to say the boy will be a ne’er-do-well. After all, his uncle has served valiantly in the army fighting in Afghanistan. On the other hand, there is his grandfather, Charles, who fits the description quite well. What the hell does he do that is worth anything? In any case, some speculate the new baby will be named George after, TheDC Morning suspects, George Zimmerman. Or maybe he will be named the most popular name in Britain for newborns: Mohammad.
2.) Stalin and American exceptionalism — Those two things don’t seem to go together, unless you know Stalin invented the term “American exceptionalism.” In an interview with TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein on his new monograph on American exceptionalism, Charles Murray confirms the Stalinist origin of the phrase:
“Yes. An American communist had argued that America’s peculiar civic culture made it exempt from Marx’s laws of history, which Stalin denounced as the heresy of ‘American exceptionalism.’ But the idea that America was exceptional had been around since the Revolution.”
Murray goes on to discuss how America has lost its exceptional nature. Read the full interview to find out how and why.
3.) Hillary-baloo — Hillary Clinton is running for president, says someone who chairs an organization that won’t exist if she doesn’t. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“The chairman of a new political action committee dedicated to stopping Hillary Clinton from winning the White House in 2016 said the organization is about to ramp up its efforts against the former secretary of state because, ‘I don’t think there’s any doubt she’s running.’ ‘I don’t think anybody has any misconception that she’s not going to run,’ Ted Harvey, a Republican state senator in Colorado, said in a phone interview Monday. ‘There are tons of huge pro-Hillary PACS that are raising huge amounts of money right now. She is doing everything that a candidate would be doing at this point to be preparing for a full scale national campaign.’ The outfit chaired by Harvey — appropriately called the Stop Hillary PAC — has been working behind the scenes for months, but is about to become much more visible in politics in the coming days.”
This is good news for Harvey, because if Hillary didn’t run, he will have to find a new hobby to chair.
4.) Questions, yes, real questions, no — Jay Carney had a great day Monday. TheDC’s Neil Munro reports:
“White House spokesman Jay Carney held a wildly successful press conference Monday. There were no questions about the president’s expanding scandals, sliding poll numbers, lousy employment numbers or even the much-touted immigration bill’s impact on American college graduates and blue-collar workers. Instead, reporters followed the story released by the White House’s public relations team, which said the president would give three economic speeches this week. Some members of the White House press corps asked a few questions about the latest failed effort to get Arabs to agree to Israel’s existence, all of which Carney instantly muffled with familiar clichés.”
It makes sense that Carney answered questions about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with clichés because that is how John Kerry seems to understand the Middle East.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Josh Greenman: “But baby, I saw a thing about it on HuffPo Live!” RT @HuffPostLive: How adultery can actually save your relationship
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Romanian Party Delegation Visits Statues of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il”
VIDEO: Sean Hannity, Joe Scarborough trade barbs over Trayvon Martin’s alleged drug use