IS THIS THE HOPE, OR THE CHANGE? NORTH KOREA SAYS IT SUCCESSFULLY CONDUCTS HYDROGEN BOMB TEST:

North Korea says it has successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test, which if confirmed, will be a first for the reclusive regime and a significant advancement for its military ambitions.

A hydrogen bomb is more powerful than plutonium weapons, which is what North Korea used in its three previous underground nuclear tests.

“If there’s no invasion on our sovereignty we will not use nuclear weapon,” the North Korean state news agency said. “This H-bomb test brings us to a higher level of nuclear power.”

If true, the symmetry of the Norks announcing they’ve armed themselves with the H-bomb on the same day that Obama went full-Boehner while proposing disarming innocent Americans of their firearms is truly staggering. But then, when it comes to generating absurdity, there’s no way any satirist can compete with reality.

Or with the Obama administration, for that matter.

Speaking of which, in response to the State Department urging “North Korea to exercise restraint and refrain from further threatening actions,” James Taranto quips, “#YoureGonnaNeedABiggerHashtag.”

And you’re going to have move that red line yet again. “Today, President Park and I are reaffirming that our nations will never accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state,” President Boehner tweeted with a tear in his eye 80 days ago back in October.

In lighter news from the intersection of DC and the Hermit State, would-be Washington Post “fact checker” Glenn Kessler blindly retweets parody North Korean news agency account weighing on Donald Trump’s “Ted Cruise” birther shtick.

Layers and layers of fact-checkers and editors…