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1.) Manchin smash! — Burly, stevedore-esque West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin is no fan of President Obama’s anti-coal policies. Given the importance of coal to the Mountain State, this should not come as a surprise. The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Michael Bastasch reports:
“West Virginia’s coal industry has taken such a hit from environmental regulations that Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has decided to buck President Obama. Manchin announced Wednesday that he will oppose Ron Binz, the president’s pick to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).”
If Republicans manage to take the Senate in 2014, the chances are pretty good that Manchin “pulls a Shelby” and joins the GOP.
2.) Talk about Barnes-storming — Weekly Standard editor/eyewear model Fred Barnes says conservative journalist Quin Hillyer is the best man to represent Alabama’s 1st Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Alabama’s own Alex Pappas reports for TheDC:
“It’s not everyday that you see well-known political commentators cut campaign ads for candidates. But Fred Barnes, the Weekly Standard editor and Fox News commentator, stars in a new ad for Alabama Republican congressional candidate Quin Hillyer. ‘Hi. I’m Fred Barnes,’ the ad begins. ‘I watch Alabama closely. My son went to school there and my daughter married an Alabama boy…More and more top conservative reformers are joining me in supporting Mobile’s Quin Hillyer for Congress. He is a man with integrity and strong conservative principles. He also brings real know how and experience, and has a proven record of reforming Washington.'”
Hillyer would be the 12th person to represent the district since Reconstruction, and the first who can read and write.
3.) These girls are on fire — Literally on fire. As in burned alive, mostly during the religious wars of pre-Renaissance Europe. TheDC’s Scoops Delacroix introduces our latest slideshow, “Hotties throughout History”:
“There are only so many photos of a smoking-hot Kate Upton we can look at in one day, you know? So we went back in history — way, way back — to find some hotties throughout history. While all of these hotties are known for something different, they all have one thing in common: They were all burned at the stake.”
Too soon?
4.) Just more proof that education is for suckers — Connecticut kids who are too square to drop out of school are taking “wellness” tests now. What’s that, you ask? TheDC’s Eric Owens has the straight dope:
“According to a health quiz given to all freshmen at New Canaan High School in suburban Connecticut, students who don’t vote for ‘pro-environmental candidates in elections’ or write to ‘elected leaders about environmental concerns’ are not well. Any 14-year-old student at the ritzy public high school who fails to ‘reuse’ ‘tin foil’ or isn’t ‘a good listener’ is also in bad shape. The Daily Caller received the entire ‘How WELLthy Are You?’ quiz via email. It’s a series of 60 statements neatly divided into six sections. Quiz takers are asked to rate themselves on a 1-4 scale for each statement.”
5.) Tweet of yesterday — The Prophet Pizza: I mean, if Edgar Allan Poe were alive now he’d just be some dude in Brooklyn with a tumblr called POEm
6.) Today in North Korean news — BREAKING: “‘Succession of Preceding Leaders’ Idea and Exploits in DPRK Praised by Kuwaiti Personage”