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1.) John Kerry, the man with no security plan — Security doesn’t seem to be a priority at the State Department, even after Benghazi. The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Brendan Bordelon reports:
“The State Department has done almost nothing to enhance security at dangerous diplomatic outposts since last year’s deadly Benghazi attack, the department’s chief watchdog reported. In an audit released Wednesday, the State Department’s inspector general blasted the department for failing to formulate a strategy to protect high-risk installations abroad, even after Libyan ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were murdered during a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2012. ‘The Department of State has neither a conceptual framework nor a process for risk management,’ the report reads. ‘There is no one person or office specifically tasked to oversee the assessment of risks in critical, high-threat locales and weigh those risks against … policy priorities to determine if the strategic value of the program outweighs the associated risks.'”
Let’s be fair here. How can the State Department be expected to fix such security lapses when it is devoting all its energy to pushing a peace plan in the Middle East that has no chance of succeeding?
2.) Ted explains his excellent adventure — So what did Ted Cruz do after his marathon 21-hour Senate floor speech? Go to Disney Land? Not quite. He explained what he believes he accomplished to a sea of reporters. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“When an exhausted Texas Sen. Ted Cruz walked out of the Senate chamber shortly after noon on Wednesday, he was asked point blank by one of the dozens of reporters who swarmed him what he accomplished by spending more than 21 hours arguing against Obamacare on the Senate floor. ‘I hope that this filibuster has helped frame this debate for the American people,’ the Republican senator said, ‘has provided an opportunity for the American people to engage in this debate and express our view that Obamacare isn’t working and that it is hurting hardworking Americans across this country.’ Cruz spoke to reporters for about five minutes, repeating his arguments against President Barack Obama’s health-care law. ‘At this point, I think I have spoken long enough,’ he said to laughter before being ushered away.”
Say what you will about Ted Cruz, he certainly has stamina.
3.) Why can’t we eat ice cream for breakfast? — Abigail Carroll, the author of “Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal,” says go for it. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:
“So why, exactly, do we eat pancakes for breakfast and not for dinner? And why don’t we eat ice cream for breakfast? ‘Actually, pancakes typically showed up as dessert or a special holiday dinner in the 1600s and 1700s — not as breakfast,’ Carroll explained. ‘The day before Lent known as Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday has also been called Pancake Tuesday because pancakes were a rich, festive food people made to use up their milk and eggs before they started fasting. The Dutch introduced pancakes to the colonies — as well as doughnuts and waffles — and only in the 1800s did they begin showing up for breakfast.’ ‘As for ice cream, well why not?’ she added. ‘We seem to like eating dessert for breakfast!'”
Read the full interview to discover how the Americans’ eating habits came to be.
4.) Saving Cyrus — A merciful man, Daily Caller advice columnist Matt Labash wants to save Miley Cyrus from herself. He writes:
“Real women are complex, sentient, articulate, intelligent creatures. Real women have mystery, and tend not to post selfies. A real woman’s sexuality is but a facet of their personality, which has the added benefit of making them even more desirable. A real woman reveals herself slowly, and makes you want to know more of her, rather than constantly making herself known. Real women use their tongues to say things worth listening to. Not just to lick things. If Miley Cyrus had half a brain — and it’s quite possible that’s the upper limit of what she’s working with — she’d do something really grown up. She’d try becoming one.”
Read it all — most especially if your name is Miley Cyrus.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Jim Antle: An Alan Keyes filibuster would have been epic. #MakeDCListen
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Rodong Sinmun Calls for Frustrating Imperialists’ Ideological and Cultural Poisoning”