TheDC Morning

December 11, 2012       By: Jamie Weinstein School's out for protest -- Flight from France --  Thune has a smooth fiscal cliff tune -- Hanoi's hellish highways -- Tweet of Yesterday -- Today in North Korean News 1.) School's out for protest  -- You've got to fight! For your right!! To force your colleagues to join a union!!! TheDC's Robbie Soave reports: "A Michigan public school district has cancelled classes for all students on Tuesday, freeing teachers to protest the scheduled approval of a right-to-work bill at the state capitol. The final version of the bill—which would make it legal for workers to buck joining a union—is expected to be signed into law by Rick Snyder, the Republican governor, on Tuesday. While teachers all over the state are expected to skip work to protest the bill, a school district in southeast Michigan preemptively cancelled classes to aid its teachers’ actions." 2.) Flight from France  -- What's better than living in France? Acting like you live in France so you can avoid their newly instituted top tax rate. The Daily Caller News Foundation's Betsi Fores reports: "Famed French actor and filmmaker Gerard Depardieu has reportedly taken up legal residence in a small town in Belgium, seeking good food, nice people, and, you guessed it, lower tax rates. Led by President Francois Hollande, the Socialist French government has a proposed a budget for 2013 that would tax top income earners at 75 percent after the first €1 million of annual income. Alternatively, Belgium’s top tax rate is 50 percent." Depardieu reportedly set up residence in Belgium right next to the French border. If France sought to eliminate millionaires from the country, their policies appear to be a stunning success. 3.) Thune has a smooth fiscal cliff tune -- President Obama's focus on raising taxes doesn't make sense, according to one GOP senator. Actually, a lot of GOP senators. But TheDC's Nicholas Ballasy reports on just John Thune's thoughts: "Republican South Dakota Sen. John Thune said President Obama seems to have an 'obsession with raising taxes' as part of a deficit reduction deal between the White House and congressional leaders to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. Thune, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, added that such a policy would only raise enough revenue to fund 'about a week' of government spending. ... 'Anybody who studies this knows full well that that doesn’t solve the problem. Even the $800 billion, which would include income tax rate increases on marginal income tax, as well as capital gains and dividends, gets you $800 billion, which funds the government for about a week.'" But why solve the problem when you can demagogue it? 4.) Hanoi's hellish highways -- TheDC's Jamie Weinstein writes about the insane driving culture he discovered during his recent trip to Hanoi: "And the suicidal driving culture doesn’t just manifest itself in the street-crossing dance: You can also see it in how their bussing system operates. I witnessed this wizardry when I made the four-hour trek, each way, outside of Hanoi to Ha Long Bay (pro tip: It's not worth it.) I wasn’t in a bus for the journey. I was in a car. All of a sudden a bus would zoom passed the car at breakneck speed. A local traveling with me referred to it as a flying coffin. I didn’t get the reference the first time, but when busses kept recklessly weaving in and out of oncoming traffic to get ahead of each other, I asked what the hell was going on. I was told that the busses were owned by different families. And if one family's bus got to where the passengers were before another, they basically got all the profit. So busses race each other, risking the lives of their passengers, themselves and everyone else on the road, in order to be first to the waiting customers. Hence, flying coffins. I can’t find any confirmation of this system on the Internet, but it seems like a reasonable explanation for why the bus drivers were acting like they were Jeff Gordon (or whatever NASCAR driver is currently famous)." There's much more in this travelogue. So read it. 5.) Tweet of Yesterday -- HowardKurtz: Chris Matthews interviewing Charlie Crist. One way to get on MSNBC: Become a Democrat! 6.) Today in North Korean News -- BREAKING: Committee for Remembering Kim Jong Il Formed in Indonesia VIDEO: Obama says right-to-work laws have everything to do with politics       Smith and Epson -- Congressman urges legislation to renew ban on printer-made plastic guns that don't exist College Republicans poised to elect first female national chair-- Alex Smith, current national co-chair of the committee, will announce her candidacy for the top spot US continues fight against Arab, Chinese and Russian push for UN Internet regulation -- The U.S. and its allies have firmly opposed international regulation and censorship of content on the Internet   VINCE SMITH & SCOTT FABER: Congress shouldn't sneak farm bill into fiscal cliff deal -- Passing a $1 trillion farm bill during the lame-duck session would be a big mistake. JUSTIN PEARSON: It's time for the sun to rise on Sunrise food trucks -- A Florida town is weighing whether to legalize food trucks. JAMIE WEINSTEIN: Hanging in Hanoi — and surviving to tell about it -- In all seriousness, Hanoi has what you could call a suicidal driving culture.     Can't see this email? Click here to view in your browser.

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