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1.) Heroes need not apply — TheDC’s Sarah Hofmann reports on how civilizations die:
“A thirteen year-old Canadian, Briar MacLean, was reprimanded by school officials for potentially saving the life of one of his fellow classmates. After defending the victim from an armed student, the vice principal chastised MacLean, saying that he should have gotten a teacher involved instead of acting quickly. …MacLean instinctively jumped and pushed the bully away from the other student and then continued about his day unfazed. However, later he was called into the office and not allowed to return to classes for the rest of the day. The vice principal called MacLean’s mother, Leah O’Donnell, saying that her son was involved in an incident where ‘he decided to ‘play hero’ and jump in.’ The vice principal added that the school did not ‘condone heroics,’ and that the proper course of action would have been to get a school administrator to handle it.”
Perhaps the school should change it’s name to Cowardice Academy. This is not the mark of a healthy society.
2.) Kim Jong Crazy — Kim Jong-il may be no longer with us, but insane stories of his loathsome tenure on earth continue to be told. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:
“If Willy Wonka and a female demon had a baby, the result would have been the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. Nowhere in the world does the bizarre intersect more perfectly with the monstrous than in the “Democratic” People’s Republic of Korea. For the July issue of GQ magazine, Adam Johnson sat down with Kim Jong-il’s former Japanese sushi chef Kenji Fujimoto. Fujimoto, which is an alias, has told some of his tales of working for and partying with Kim Jong-il from 1988 to 2001 in books and interviews before. But Johnson’s piece contains some truly bizarre anecdotes about the family ruling the world’s most hellish regime.”
Read the article to see the 11 facts and anecdotes.
3.) From IRS scandal to tax reform — One congressman sees a silver lining in the IRS scandal. Betsi Fores reports for The Daily Caller News Foundation:
“In what he describes as the ‘escalating culture of distrust,’ chief deputy majority whip Rep. Peter Roskam says that the silver lining to the continued scandalizing of the Internal Revenue Service is the increased demand for tax reform. ‘If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the scandal highlights the urgent need to reform the IRS by simplifying the tax code,’ Roskam wrote in Roll Call op-ed. ‘As is, the tax code is so burdensome and complex that Americans spend an average of 13 hours a year trying to comply,’ Roskam continues. ‘Taxpayers can’t help but fear as they submit their forms that they’ve left themselves vulnerable to an audit. Even before details of the IRS scandal came out, there was an overwhelming feeling of anxiety and mistrust about the massive amount of power the IRS holds.'”
4.) New IRS director has interests outside of IRS — When the new acting IRS director is not crunching numbers, he is apparently listening to the radio. Charles Johnson reports for TheDC:
“The Internal Revenue Service’s acting commissioner, Daniel Werfel, loves just about everybody who works with shock jock Howard Stern, according to the long-serving public servant’s Twitter account. Werfel, who follows only 51 people and has sent out only one tweet, follows Howard Stern and the Stern Show. He also follows Stern’s wife, Beth Ostrosky Stern, and Jon Leiberman, a reporter for ‘The Howard Stern Show’ and Stern’s ‘Howard 100 News.’ The Twitter account @diw1971 (D Werfel) is barely active and features only the Twitter egg rather than a photograph, but it follows and is followed by Werfel’s wife Beth, who is listed as living in Arlington, along with several other apparent family members. Werfel did not respond to requests for confirmation by email and Twitter.”
TheDC Morning is totally in favor of IRS agents spending more time listening to Howard Stern and less time harassing Americans.
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Eli Lake: Being the long-form editor of politico is a little bit like being the Jewish Affairs correspondent for al-Manar. #justsayin
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Kim Jong Un Visits Pig Farm under KPA Unit 549”
VIDEO: Rubio opens door to abandoning immigration bill if it isn’t “dealt with”