TheDC Morning: All moderately entertaining things must come to an end

Like to laugh? Like to be informed? That’s nice, but don’t sign up for TheDC Morning, because after today, it will be no more.

1.) All moderately entertaining things must come to an end — After years of noble service, TheDC Morning is being retired. As a wise sage surely said somewhere, all moderately entertaining things must come to an end at some point. But don’t fret. TheDC Links will continue to bring great Daily Caller stories to your inbox every weekday morning. (And if you’re not signed up for TheDC Links, CLICK HERE and sign up for the email in the register box on the right side of the page.) As for your daily dose of North Korean propaganda, well, you’ll probably have to go elsewhere for that. So enjoy TheDC Morning one last time for the memories of what once was and will (probably) never be again.

2.) Landing in Libya — In a spirit of bipartisanship, Democrats alerted the press of Republican Rep. Darrell Issa’s trip to Libya, potentially endangering his life. Wasn’t that sweet? TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports: 

“A leaked State Department email indicates that officials were worried about the safety of House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa after Democrats revealed his plans for a secret trip to Libya this week. Issa, a Republican from California, has safely returned from his fact-finding trip to the country as his committee continues to investigate the terrorist attacks that killed America’s ambassador and three others in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. CBS News reported Thursday on an email that quoted a Libyan national sharing ‘his concern and his opinion that Representative Issa should not come to Libya for his own safety.’ … Before Issa’s trip, Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a press release asking Issa to postpone his trip until he allows Democrats to join him.”

Then again, what really could go wrong in Libya, right?

3.) If not defund, how about delay? — Could the GOP secure a delay of Obamacare’s individual mandate? If they can peel away a handful of electorally-vulnerable Democrats, perhaps, though it probably isn’t likely. But it’s not impossible. TheDC’s Alexis Levinson reports:

“West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said Thursday that he would join Republicans in supporting a one-year delay of the individual mandate in the health-care law. ‘There’s no way I could not vote for it,’ Manchin said at a Bloomberg Government breakfast Thursday. ‘It’s very reasonable and sensible.’ Manchin said such a move made sense in light of the fact that administration had already delayed the implementation of the individual mandate for businesses. ‘Don’t put the mandate on the American public right now,’ Manchin said. ‘Give them at least a year. If you know you couldn’t bring the corporate sector, you gave them a year, don’t you think it’d be fair?'”

What say you, Sens. Pryor, Begich and Landrieu?

4.) Dumb de-dumb dumb dumb — John Lott says our judges aren’t geniuses. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:

“Courts are being dumbed down because politicians are trying to keep the smartest and most persuasive judges off the bench, argues conservative economist John Lott in his recently released book, ‘Dumbing Down the Courts: How Politics Keeps the Smartest Justices Off the Bench.’ ‘While confirmations have been getting tougher for all the nominees, smarter, more influential nominees have had the hardest time getting confirmed,’ Lott  told The Daily Caller in an interview about his book. ‘There is a simple reason for this. Judges who understand the law and are articulate may be able to convince other judges hearing cases to change how they vote. They may also write opinions that influence other judges around the country.’ Lott, who also authored the best-selling ‘More Guns, Less Crime,’ says the statistical record bears out his claim. ‘For example, someone from a top 10 law school, who graduated in the top 10 percent of their class, and who clerked on both a Circuit Court and the Supreme Court, it takes them 158 percent longer to get confirmed,’ Lott said.  ‘A second even better way of looking at persuasiveness is to look at the influence nominees have once they are confirmed and the most direct way of looking at this is how often other judges cite their opinions. A 20 percent increase in citations by other judges to a judge’s decisions meant that his confirmation process was up to 60 percent longer.'”

Sorry John Lott, not everyone can be as smart as Ed Schultz.

5.) Tweet of Yesterday — KimJongNumberUn: Turning off the Internet now. For the entire country. #BOOM #LOL

6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “Korean Book, Photo and Fine Art Exhibitions Held Abroad”