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1.) No, poverty doesn’t spur terrorism — It has already been thoroughly demonstrated both empirically and anecdotally, but yet another study of Islamist terrorists — this time of al-Qaida and al-Qaida inspired terrorists who were convicted in U.S. courts or committed a suicide attack on the U.S. homeland between 1997 to 2011 — shows that the average terrorist isn’t some poor, uneducated sap. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein interviews the report’s author, Robin Simcox of the Henry Jackson Society, on his findings:
“It is true that there is a common perception that terrorists are usually uneducated and jobless. However, while this was found to have been the case on some occasions, the majority of offenders (57%) included in the report were employed or full time students. In fact, 52% of all individuals had received a college educated or above. Nearly half of those employed were in skilled jobs, including financial analysts, pharmacists, professors and doctors, showing that the majority of have risen through the system, rather than being marginalized from it.”
If the opposite were true, the phrase “Cambodian suicide bomber” would be ubiquitous rather then entirely unheard of. Or, if you prefer, if poverty spurred terrorism, MC Hammer wouldn’t just be known for bagging pants and silly raps.
2.) More Menendez — TheDC’s David Martosko reports that the Washington Post got some facts wrong in its story on Sen. Bob Menendez:
“The Washington Post mistook one prostitute for another Monday in a report that initially seemed to debunk a November 2012 Daily Caller exposé of New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez. While the Post said it had an affidavit from a woman in the Dominican Republic admitting she fabricated claims Menendez paid her for sex, that woman was not one of the two prostitutes TheDC interviewed for a Nov. 1 report.”
3.) How low can Lohan’s life go? — Apparently pretty low. TheDC’s Taylor Bigler reports:
“You probably never thought you would read this sentence as much as we never thought we would publish it but, it turns out that Lindsay Lohan has actually made a good decision. Seriously. According to TMZ, Charlie Sheen — who paid $100,000 of Lohan’s IRS debt and gave her a guest-starring role on his FX show — has offered to “mentor” Lohan, but she isn’t having any of it.”
How screwed up must your life be if Charlie Sheen is considered comparatively more responsible? [Hint: Really, really screwed up.]
4.) Turning on the boss — Now that President Obama has won re-election, some in the press are going to seek to make a name for themselves by turning against the president, argues TheDC’s Matt Lewis:
“On the heels of the Bob Woodward affair, it is becoming clear that the move for mainstream journalists who want to make news and call attention to themselves is to turn against Obama. (When 99 percent of your colleagues are carrying Obama’s water, this becomes a quick and cheap way to separate yourself from the pack.) This has been a long time coming, but it’s not entirely unexpected. Having held their collective tongues long enough for Obama to be re-elected, it’s now time to have some fun — and make a name for themselves, once again. This will be rare, as there are still consequences to speaking out against the lame duck president. But the lure of attention and buzz will surely tempt more and more people to go rogue — even if just to dip their toes in the water.”
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — KimJongNumberUn: People of North Korea: join me in celebrating the birth of my son, Kim Rod-mun.
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “New Poems Encourage DPRK People in Face-off with U.S.”