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1.) Van Jones Van Stones Eric Holder — Attorney General Eric Holder has been under immense pressure and scrutiny by Republican lawmakers for his role in Operation Fast and Furious. Now, the left-wing Van Jones is coming out against him, reports TheDC’s Matthew Boyle:
“During a radio interview Wednesday night, former Obama ‘green jobs czar’ Van Jones broke ranks with current and former administration officials and ripped Attorney General Eric Holder for his handling of Operation Fast and Furious, the failed gun-walking operation that trafficked thousands of firearms across the Mexican border. ‘I believe that if this was happening across our other border in Canada, we’d probably take it a little more seriously,’ Jones said, implying much of the carelessness over Operation Fast and Furious came because many of the victims are Hispanics from Mexico. ‘I worry sometimes that we just don’t value all life the same,’ Jones added.”
If you’ve lost Van Jones, you’ve lost America. Well, at least the America that lives in Berkley, California.
2.) Iran, you’ve been warned — America’s ambassador to Israel sent a stern warning to the Islamic Republic of Iran, reports Zach Gorelick for TheDC:
“U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told the Israeli Bar Association Thursday that the option of striking Iran in the coming months is ‘not just available, but it’s ready.’ ‘The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it’s ready,’ he said, according to The Associated Press.”
Hopefully the ambassador’s statement is apart of a serious effort by the Obama administration to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capability and not merely apart of a serious effort by the Obama administration to win re-election for President Obama.
3.) Lawrence O’Donnell, culture warrior — The MSNBC host attacked the facilitator of your TheDC Morning, along with his fellow panelists on Fox News’ “Red Eye,” for poking fun of restaurateur Mario Batali. Among his attacks, O’Donnell said that one would have to be culturally out-of-touch not to know who Batali is. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein (ME!) shot back in an op-ed:
“Why would you be culturally out of touch to not know who Mario Batali is? Quite the opposite, actually. Those who think people would be culturally out of touch for not knowing Mario Batali are actually the ones out of touch. Batali is a $100-per-meal restaurateur. Few Americans regularly eat at places where dinner costs that much, and fewer still keep close tabs on the proprietors of those restaurants. He is not a must-know cultural icon. If you’re a foodie, yes, you will know who Mario Batali is. If you’re an MSNBC host, yes, you’ll probably know who Mario Batali is. But most people in America wouldn’t.”
Will Lawrence debate the issue man-to-man on his show? Yes? No? Yes? So far no.
4.) Climate dollars — The U.S. isn’t spending climate change, but climate dollars, reports TheDC’s Caroline May:
“The Congressional Research Service estimates that since 2008 the federal government has spent nearly $70 billion on ‘climate change activities.’ Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe presented the new CRS report on the Senate Floor Thursday to make the point that the Obama administration has been focused on ‘green’ defense projects to the detriment of the military. The report revealed that from fiscal years 2008 through 2012 the federal government spent $68.4 billion to combat climate change. The Department of Defense also spent $4 billion of its budget, the report adds, on climate change and energy efficiency activities in that same time period.”
5.) Poll of the Day: Obama more popular than Romney — USA Today/Gallup measures favorability of Mitt Romney and President Obama: 52% have a favorable opinion of Obama, 46% have unfavorable opinion, 2% unsure. For Mitt Romney, 50% have favorable opinion, 41% unfavorable, 7% unsure, 2% never heard of.
6.) Tweet of Yesterday — Michael Ian Black: Everybody, we can do magical things together if we just have faith and also magic.