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1.)Dealer in chief — We’ve seen the picture of President Obama looking all serious in the Situation Room the night of the Osama bin Laden raid. But we’ve never seen the photo of him playing cards. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:
“Despite the picture the White House released showing President Obama intently watching the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, his former ‘body man’ says the president spent most of the raid playing a card game. ‘Most people were like down in the Situation Room and [the president] was like, ‘I’m not going to be down there, I can’t watch this entire thing.’ So he, myself, Pete Souza, the White House photographer, Marvin [Nicholson], we must have played 15 games of spades,’ former Obama aide Reggie Love said at an event in Los Angeles sponsored by The Artists & Athletes Alliance in July.”
Reggie Love was probably on the receiving end recently of a not-so-nice White House phone call.
2.) Is Hillary Clinton running for president? — Huh? TheDC Morning never heard she was considering it. Never — if by never you mean only half of the political articles written are focused on it. TheDC’s Patrick Howley reports:
“It’s on. The super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential candidacy is now sending out bumper stickers. ‘Ready For Hillary already starts sending out bumper stickers,’ the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard tweeted Wednesday. Ready for Hillary made headlines in late June when it launched an online store featuring T-shirts with an illustration of Clinton’s face and the slogan ‘Ready.’ The McLean, Va.-based PAC is expected to merge with at least one other pro-Hillary PAC.”
3.) Furlough fiasco? — Nope. Didn’t happen. Brendan Bordelon reports for The Daily Caller News Foundation:
“Despite Obama administration warnings that the sequester would force thousands of government workers into mandatory unpaid leave for weeks on end, as the fiscal year winds down nearly all federal agencies have avoided the promised amount of employee furloughs. Government Executive reports that since the sequester took effect on March 1, most federal departments have been able to reduce the number of furlough days initially planned. A few managed to avoid furloughs altogether.”
4.) Bring back Mubarak — Egypt is on fire. TheDC’s Neil Munro reports:
“The White House Wednesday pushed multiple statements calling for elections in Egypt, as the country’s military-backed government cracked down on violent Islamist protesters in Cairo. ‘When the interim government took power [in July], we expressed our concern about the need for a prompt transition back to a democratically elected civilian government,’ deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said Aug. 14. ‘We made clear to them that the [financial] aid we offer to Egyptians is something we review regularly, and that is something that continues to be true today,’ he emphasized, at the press briefing in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., where Obama is taking a vacation. … Both statements were produced shortly after Egypt’s military government violently cleared Islamic radicals from two squares in downtown Cairo. The radicals had been occupying the squares, and attacking supporters of the military government. During the clearance, the Islamists shot government soldiers and destroyed army vehicles. More than 100 Islamists were killed during the clearance.”
The current leaders of Egypt are bad. The Muslim Brotherhood is worse. Egypt has no good sides. Can we bring back deposed Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak? While he is a not-so-great guy either, he is certainly better than the current options.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Noah Pollak: Don’t worry people of Egypt, John Kerry is working day & night on the peace process.
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Kim Jong Un Visits Apartment Houses for Scientists of Kim Il Sung Univ.”