The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Excellent, @RosieGray! Questions Surround Pro-Assad ‘News’ Site

Posted on | October 2, 2013 | 14 Comments

Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed has a fascinating story today about the Minnesota-based site that published a story in late August claiming Syrian rebels had used chemical weapons supplied by the Saudis.

You may not remember that weird Aug. 29 item from Minnesota-based MintPressNews.com — I saw the headline, but dismissed it as obvious propaganda — but some people took it seriously, because it carried the byline of a veteran Mideast correspondent for the Associated Press, Dale Gavlak. Yet there was something distinctly fishy about this story: How could a Web site with no previous reputation as a source for foreign affairs reporting suddenly get this “EXCLUSIVE” story that, rather conveniently, was in direct contradiction of what everyone believed about the situation in Syria?

Whereas reports of chemical weapon use against the rebels by the Assad regime had aroused worldwide indignation, this little-known Web site based in Minnesota had a story claiming the opposite was true, that in fact it was the Syrian rebels who had gassed innocent civilians, and that the Saudis had supplied the poison gas.

Fishy, see?

Beginning with that basic common-sense impression that something didn’t add up, Rosie Gray started digging around and asking questions. She discovered a story involving Mnar Muhawesh, a 26-year-old “progressive” editor  who, as an undergraduate at St. Cloud State University, had gained recognition as “the first reporter to wear a hijab on the school’s TV news program.”

The young editor’s brother-in-law, Muhammad Muhawes, is managing editor of MintPressNews.com, and it appears that the money behind the operation comes via the editor’s father-in-law, “Odeh Muhawesh, 54, a Minneapolis businessman born in Jordan,” who “studied under an ayatollah for five years after the Islamic Revolution.”

As I say, fishy.

Anyway, having first met Rosie Gray out on the 2012 campaign trail, and having occasionally given BuzzFeed a hard time — they hate it when you call them a “liberal blog” — I was quite impressed with this particular exercise in long-form reporting. The principle of credit where credit is due requires me to praise this article, urge you to go read the whole thing, and thank Rosie Gray on Twitter.

Good work, Rosie. But I still say BuzzFeed is a liberal blog.

 


Category: Journalism, Syria

Steve @Lonegan Coming On Strong In New Jersey Special Senate Election

Posted on | October 2, 2013 | 10 Comments

by Smitty

I heard Steve Lonegan on the Mike Church show while I was going to work last week. He was expounding, as one does on Church’s show, on historical matters, pointing out that New Jersey saw more Revolutionary War action than any other state. Perhaps only a mildly interesting factoid, but one that’s crucial in a day where living icons of heroism are thrown under the bus by a soulless state, and the codpiece media can only laugh. Where, short of going the Full Orwell, does this end?

Hopefully there is some input to the question on 16 October when Steve contends with a serial liar who’s cluttered the office of Mayor of Newark for some years. The question is: Who fills in for Frank Lautenberg until 2014?

Steve Lonegan for Senate

Let recovery begin here.

via Instapundit

Category: New Jersey

LIVE AT FIVE: 10.02.13

Posted on | October 2, 2013 | 8 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
No Progress On Ending Shutdown Stalemate

A Park Police officer looks on as a Park Service employee posts a sign on barricades closing off the Lincoln Memorial.

Lawmakers in both parties suggest Feds could be out for weeks

Berlusconi’s Allies Desert Him To Keep Grand Coalition Alive
More than 40 Freedom People MPs ready to back PM in confidence vote

Foreign Jihadis Playing Dominant Role In Syrian Civil War
Syrians still the majority among rebels, but Al-Qaeda foreigners playing important leadership roles



POLITICS
WW2 Veterans Storm Memorial “Closed” By Shutdown

“Well, they overran the barricades in wheelchairs…WTF do we do now?”

As Rep. Steve King (R-IA) distracted Park Police, veterans and Congressional staffers tore down barricades, rolled into WW2 Memorial

California Law Cracks Down On Internet Revenge Porn


House Fails To Pass Limited Funding Bills

ObamaCare Opens To Widespread Delays, Glitches

Casino Mogul Adelson Loses Libel Suit Against Democrat Group

States Carry On: Federal Shutdown Has Little Impact Outside DC

EPA’s “Secret Agent” Con Man Pleads Guilty, Then Takes The Fifth Before Congress

Obama’s Nominee For Top Energy Regulatory Spot Withdraws



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asian Crude Drops On US Government Shutdown: NYMEX $101.52, Brent $107.59
Vehicle Sales Hitting Top Speed In Canada
NY State To Sue Wells Fargo Over Mortgage Settlement
Amazon’s Bezos Completes Washington Post Purchase
Illinois Lawmakers Considering Tax Incentive Package To Keep ADM In-State
Wall Street Shrugs Off Shutdown, For Now
Carl Icahn Pushes For $150 BIllion Apple Stock Buyback
Small Band Of Microsoft Investors Push To Defenestrate Gates
New Amazon Kindle Fire HDX: It’s Hot Stuff
Scribd Launches Subscription E-Book Service For Android, iOS, Web
More Than Free Data: FreedomPop Launches Carrier-Killing Mobile Service With Free Calls, Texts



SPORTS
Pirates Win The Wildcard

Russell Martin is greeted by Clint Barmes after hitting his second-inning homer

Liriano goes seven as Pirates smother Reds 6-2

Shutdown Forces Service Academy Sports Into Limbo

Don Cherry: You Fight, You Get Hurt

Cashman: Blame Me For Yankees’ Finish

Royals Sign Ned Yost To Two-Year Extension

In First Game Of Season, Montreal’s Enforcer Parros Hospitalized After Big Hit

Frolik, Jets Top Oilers In Opener

Caps Drop Season Opener To Blackhawks, 6-4

Ajmal, Rehman Call For Restoration Of Cricket Ties With India

How Will Nationals Reload For 2014?



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Michelle Rodriguez Goes Both Ways

Likes the sausage.

Opens up about her love life to Entertainment Weekly, bemoans lack of manly men in LA

Jay-Z On His Rags-to-Riches Story: The Vanity Fair Interview

Kimberly Perry Engaged To J.P. Arencibia

Miranda Kerr Is Cosmo’s November Cover Girl

Angelina Jolie’s New Ring Sparks Fresh Wedding Rumors

Tyra Banks Sues Wigmakers For Stealing Her Name

What Celebrity Sex Tape “Stars” Really Get Paid

JWoww Calls Chris Christie “Retarded” On Gay Marriage

“It’s Not Just For The Sake Of The Children” Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones Back Together After Trial Separation

Space Age At Any Age! Sandra Bullock And Emma Watson Rocking White Dresses At “Gravity” Premiere

Heather Graham: “Sex Is Part Of Who I Am”

“Breaking Bad” Finale Brings In Record Ratings



FOREIGNERS
Japan Awaits Abe’s Third Arrow As Companies Urged To Invest
Iranian Parliament Approves Rouhani’s Diplomatic Outreach
Obama Cancels Malaysia Trip, Blames Shutdown
Italy On The Brink, Once Again
Russia Charges Two Greenpeace Activists With Piracy
US Expels Venezuelan Diplomats
Rakhine State Religious Violence Flares Up Again Despite Thein Sein Visit
US, ROK Ink Security Pact
Xi Jinping Hopes Traditional Faiths Can Fill Chicoms’ Moral Void



BLOGS & STUFF
Valley Of The Shadow: Democrats Are Zombies
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: Government Shutdown Day One – The Trials Of A Modern Tom Joad
Dead Republican Party: The War In Afghanistan
Michelle Malkin: Accountability For Camp Bastion? Two Marine Generals Reportedly Fired
Twitchy: Heckuva Job! @HealthCareGov Shamed Into Apology After Touting Glitchy O-Care Website
American Power: The President’s Shutdown
American Thinker: Why “Equality” Must Die
The Necropolitan Sentinel: ObamaCare Theme Song
Don Surber: Daily Scoreboard, October 1
Jammie Wearing Fools: Oops – “Glitch” Prevents CNN Host From Signing Up For ObamaCare
Pat Dollard: Radical Liberal Blogs Suggests Obama Should Use Military To Arrest, Assassinate GOP Dissenters
Protein Wisdom: NPR Helps The Cause!
Shot In The Dark: Cataclysm
The Jawa Report: Government Shuts Down, Al-Qaeda Forum Hardest Hit
The Lonely Conservative: Nonprofit Sued For Fraud 18 Months Ago Now Enrolling People In Obamacare
Megan McArdle: Why Won’t The Exchanges Load?


Category: Live at Five

Kaitlyn Hunt Gets Another Plea Offer

Posted on | October 1, 2013 | 73 Comments

The state’s attorney’s office in Vero Beach, Florida, has offered another plea-bargain deal to accused sex offender Kaitlyn Hunt:

Special conditions in the plea include:
*Hunt remains jailed until December 20, and on that date, probation will convert to community control.
*She shall have no contact directly or indirectly, including electronically or through third parties, with the victim.
*If the victim initiates contact, Hunt shall not respond in any manner.
*Hunt shall remain at least 500 feet from the victim, her residence, place of work, and school at all times. If Hunt becomes aware that she is within 500 feet of the victim, she shall immediately remove herself to a distance of at least 500 feet.
*Hunt shall submit to warrantless search and seizure by the probation officer (and law enforcement at the request of the probation officer), of her residence, car, phone, and computer.
*Hunt shall provide the probation officer with immediate and full access to telephone and Internet communications including call logs, text logs and messages, instant messaging logs and messages, emails, social media accounts, Skype or similar accounts, and account names, numbers and passwords for all accounts. And Hunt shall not use any such account belonging to any other person nor allow any other person to use any such account belonging to her.
*Hunt shall complete 150 hours of community service at a minimum 15 hours per month commencing upon her release from jail.
*Hunt shall submit to a Florida department of corrections-approved psychological evaluation and successfully complete recommended treatment, if any, at her own expense. She shall waive confidentiality regarding all aspects of the evaluation and treatment.
*Hunt shall submit to electronic (GPS) monitoring during the entire term of supervision.
*Upon completion of one-year of community control, Hunt may ask the court to convert the remainder to probation with the same terms and conditions.
*During her probation, Hunt shall observe a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.
*Hunt may transfer probation to any state that will accept supervision, and if she transfers out of Florida, electronic monitoring will be discontinued. If Hunt returns to Florida, electronic monitoring will resume immediately.
*Hunt shall pay restitution to be determined to the Crimes Compensation Trust Fund, costs of investigation, costs of prosecution ($828.00), costs of incarceration, and standard felony court costs in equal monthly installments to commence upon her release from jail. Hunt also stipulates that she has the ability to pay all costs at the date of sentencing.
*There shall be no early termination of probation, and there shall be no modification of the standard or special conditions of community control or probation without the agreement of the State Attorney’s Office.
*The sentences on all counts are to run concurrently.

This appears to be far more strict probation than the first deal Hunt was offered in April or the second deal she was offered in July, but then again, that was before they caught her sending nude photos and a masturbation video to the victim, who is now 15.

 

Category: Kaitlyn Hunt

Bad Causes Attract Bad People: Now That the ‘Free Kate’ Narrative Has Collapsed …

Posted on | October 1, 2013 | 163 Comments

Accused sex offender Kaitlyn Hunt was sent to jail after an August hearing.

“A few days from now, Jim and Laurie Smith of [REDACTED], Vero Beach, FL, are going to be murdered by Lycere Freemartin Cunningham for their involvement in the Kaitlyn Hunt case. Mr. Cunningham has learned that Mr. Smith has caused new charges to be brought against Kaitlyn that revoked her bond and landed her back in jail just the other day. He didn’t have to do that to her. It was a deliberate malicious act. He turned her in to the authorities. He and his wife will pay with their lives for [thinking] it is okay to sic law [enforcement] on people.”
— e-mail sent to SupportHonesty.net, Aug. 26

There hasn’t been much actual “news” in the Kaitlyn Hunt case during the several weeks since her violations of the “no-contact” order sent Kaitlyn to jail in August, but my Twitter timeline has remained a constant source of updates on the behind-the-scenes arguments involving the “Free Kate” movement. Matt Ross yesterday reported this death threat against the parents of Kaitlyn Hunt’s victim. I am unable to determine if “Lycere Cunningham” is a real person who actually made this threat, and whether it should be taken seriously. (You can Google it yourself.)

What made the Kaitlyn Hunt story newsworthy in May was the appearance of a “mainstream” groundswell of sympathy, created through fictions and half-truths that misrepresented the ages of both Hunt and her victim, and sought to portray Hunt as the essentially innocent victim of anti-gay prejudice. This victimhood narrative had snowballing momentum when I first noticed the story on May 22, but by early June, the facts of the case had been made sufficiently clear that the liberal media dropped the story, and even most gay-rights organizations distanced themselves from the “Free Kate” movement.

However, while the movement lost its mainstream appeal, there was still a sizeable hard core of Kaitlyn Hunt fanatics remaining, but even that crew of misfits, kooks and weirdos was winnowed down pretty seriously after August, when it was revealed that Hunt had flagrantly violated the “no-contact” order of her pre-trial release.

Whatever misplaced sympathy (or twisted affinity) had led people to support the “Free Kate” movement quickly lost its rationale.

Not only did the violations put the original charges in a new and unfavorable light — Kaitlyn Hunt’s interest in her (still) underage victim seemed to be a sort of perverse obsession — but the new charges of transmitting material harmful to a minor looked to be a slam-dunk conviction. What’s the purpose of rallying in support of someone who is almost certain to go to prison no matter what?

Alas, there are kooks beyond reach of any rational argument:

You may remember Rachel Carson Zerbe as author of what Matt Ross called a “jailbait manifesto” in defense of Kaitlyn Hunt. In accusing me of “hate,” Zerbe links to an article at a liberal site called Political Freakshow: “#SmearKate: The Kaitlyn Hunt Saga Has Now Become A Talking Point For Republicans To Push Their Bullshit ‘Pedophilia Is Being Normalized’ Theory And Their Constant Homophobia.”

The problem? That article was written in May, before the truth was widely known, when the belief that Kaitlyn Hunt was a victim of homophobia was still quite widespread. For that matter, contrary to the headline by Political Freakshow blogger Drew Childers, the effort to normalize pedophilia is not a “Republican theory.” It is not “bullshit.” It is very real, the “Free Kate” movement was part of it, and many people are now on the alert for this dangerous tendency.

You keep on, Rachel. Keep on ranting about how Kaitlyn Hunt is a victim of “hate,” and I’ll keep calling attention to sick freaks like you.

UPDATE: Kaitlyn Hunt Gets Another Plea Offer.

 

Category: Kaitlyn Hunt

It’s a Good Thing @GabrielMalor Isn’t Trying to Win Any Popularity Contests

Posted on | October 1, 2013 | 101 Comments

The morning Open Thread at AOSHQ gives their resident Eeyore a chance to voice his dissent from the GOP shutdown strategy:

So the score is: conservatives didn’t manage to stop Obamacare. Conservatives are oddly celebrating a shutdown they claimed they did not want. The GOP is getting blamed. Oh, and how are voters looking at this? A new Quinnipiac poll out this morning finds voters opposed 72%–22% to Congress shutting down the fed govt to block implementation of Obamacare.
Brilliant work. And, of course, we still have the eventual GOP surrender to look forward to, wherein the ultimate pointlessness of this strategy is revealed for all to see.

Lots of savage RINO-bashing from the commenters, which is fine and dandy. We don’t necessarily have to be waving our pompoms and doing backflips in celebration of the “Don’t Fund It” strategy. Nobody ever asked me for my advice on this, and if I had volunteered my advice, they would have ignored me, so I try to avoid the tempting illusion that anyone is going to be persuaded by my strategic advice or strategic criticism. “The dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on.”

My bedtime reading recently has been The World Crisis, Winston Churchill’s 1,400-page history of World War I, which is not just a history but a memoir, given Churchill’s key role at the Admiralty, and subsequently in the Ministry of Munitions. This is the third or fourth time I’ve read The World Crisis, as it is my habit to re-read old books I like, because it is good to be reminded of excellent stuff you’ve forgotten since the last time you read it, and this time I found myself fascinated (again) by Part III, Chapter II, “The Blood Test.”

Here, Sir Winston examines the bloody folly of the “attrition” argument that was used to justify a series of murderous Allied offensives on the Western Front from 1915 through 1917. Churchill undertakes this survey after chronicling the failure of the Gallipoli campaign, for which Churchill was widely (and unfairly) blamed.

The strategic purpose of the Gallipoli invasion had been to support a British naval effort to force their way through the Dardanelles and to knock Turkey out of the war. The fall of Constantinople would have tipped the Balkans toward the Allies, and would have relieved pressure on Russia’s southern front. If the Dardanelles campaign had succeeded (as it quite nearly did, and might still have succeeded even after the initial setbacks, if only its importance had been more widely appreciated), the endless slaughter on the Western Front could have been averted, an Allied victory in the East may have forced the Central Powers to negotiate an early peace and . . .

Well, that’s all a gigantic “what-if” scenario, because instead the Allies gave up on the Dardanelles after the Gallipoli disaster, and concentrated instead on trying futilely to score a breakthrough on the Western Front. British commanders told themselves that their offensives of 1915-1917, which never broke and only slightly penetrated the German line at the cost of many thousands of British lives, were successful because of “attrition.” Yet Churchill said at the time (in a memorandum circulated during the Somme offensive of 1916) and demonstrated conclusively after the war, when both German and Allied manpower and casualty figures were available, that the British lost nearly 3-to-1 in casualties during their attacks. German casualties 1915-1917 were never greater than the number of new recruits they added to their forces, so that the “attrition” actually worked the opposite way, weakening the British armies in comparison to the Germans, who grew steadily stronger.

It was only in 1918, when the Germans mounted their own overwhelming offensive — attempting to defeat the Allies before the addition of U.S. troop strength could tilt the balance of the war — that the “attrition” worked in favor of the Allies. Ironically, then, it was the German offensive that ultimately defeated Germany.

Only after the German army had exhausted itself on the attack and the Allies then counterattacked (employing a powerful new weapon, the tank, in whose development Churchill played a key role), did the tide on the Western Front turn decisively against Germany.

All of this is evident in hindsight, but Churchill saw it with foresight. Yet his warnings about the futility of the Allied offensive strategy, and the wrongness of the “attrition” argument that justified that strategy, fell on deaf ears at the time. Churchill was absolutely right, but the truth was unpopular, and so hundreds of thousands of British troops died in pursuit of the wrong strategy.

The “what-ifs” of politics are much the same. Looking back now, I see the presidency of George H.W. Bush (the father, that is) as the moment when the revolutionary impetus of the Reagan triumph stalled and went off track. Newt Gingrich attempted, with some success, to recapture the Reaganite spirit in the mid-1990s, but the Lewinsky episode backfired and destroyed Gingrich rather than Clinton. This was followed, in short order, by the deadlocked Florida election of 2000, and by 9/11 and the War on Terror, which led the GOP eventually to the electoral disasters of 2006 and 2008.

For the past several years, then, the Republican Party has been trying to get back to the hegemonic position of dominance it enjoyed after the 2002 and 2004 elections. Yet those were wartime elections, and even in 2004, Bush only won by a narrow majority of the popular vote, so that we see how fragile and thin was the success of the GOP in the “good years” even while Karl Rove and other Bushies were talking about a Permanent Republican Majority.

So, the shutdown strategy: Is Gabriel Malor correct that this has all been a colossal blunder and a waste of time? Perhaps. We should not rule this view out, just because we don’t agree with it, or just because it’s what spineless RINO wussie-boys are saying.

The real problem, anyway, is that Republicans aren’t winning enough elections, so that Obama is president, we have only 45 GOP senators, and John Boehner’s House Republicans control only one-half of one branch of the federal government. Holding a weak hand, Republicans must play it the best they can. We must therefore ask what is the alternative to what their actual strategy has been?

Should House Republicans just “go along to get along”? Should they rubber-stamp whatever Harry Reid’s Democrat majority in the Senate passes? Would such a strategy of collaboration really be better than the headline-making brinksmanship we’ve seen?

It is not enough to criticize what has been done, if we cannot propose a feasible alternative that would be more successful. The problem is not Gabriel Malor, however, and it doesn’t advance the conservative cause to demonize him for his arguments. He may even be right.

 

WHAT? No, hell — of course he’s completely wrong!

Made you think about it though, didn’t I?

 

Category: Ace of Spades, Budget, Health Care

Fear and Loathing in Moocher Nation

Posted on | October 1, 2013 | 97 Comments

“Swing voters.” “Independent voters.” “Low-information voters.”

President Obama’s re-election campaign engaged in a sophisticated microtargeting effort that, among other things, aimed TV ads at viewers of late-night comedy, ESPN and the TV Land network.

In other words, the president’s campaign deliberately sought potential voters who were apathetic, disengaged from politics and current affairs, whose lack of interest in (and consequent ignorance of) the political process made them “persuadable” to Obama.

This is how you get weird exit-poll results like 18% of Ohio voters who described themselves as “conservative” voting for Obama.

Obama was re-elected with a hurricane-force tailwind of ignorance, by voters who don’t even know who Harry Reid is, which makes it rather difficult for them to blame Reid for the shutdown.

Stupid voters elect drunks to Congress — the House floor smelled like a distillery during last night’s 9 p.m. vote — and we are subjected to the pathetic spectacle of politics-by-opinion-poll:

CNN Poll: Will Obamacare help you?

Why is the media even asking questions like this? Are the people who answer polls like this fully-informed about the complex causation factors whereby government policy affects economics?

People who don’t currently have health insurance are likely to believe that ObamaCare will “help” them, if they think of it as a something-for-nothing giveaway — “Free Stuff!” — but as P.J. O’Rourke once observed about rent-control policies, the problem with something-for-nothing is that you quickly run out of something and end up with a whole lot of nothing. Demand for anything worth having will inevitably exceed the supply, and this is why we have prices. Attempts to evade the market mechanism of prices, whether through mandates or subsidies or some other government regulatory apparatus, tend to produce market distortions and shortages.

Federal and state governments have been interfering with the market mechanisms of the medical industry and health insurance for decades, and have “succeeded” in the way such interventions usually do, by making everything more complicated, and more expensive for everybody except for those who get health care “free.” Of course, someone must pay for “free” health care, and the transfer of this cost from the recipient of treatment to taxpayers has consequences.

If people need “free” health care because they are able-bodied but unemployed, wouldn’t we have more jobs and better jobs if the economy were prosperous and growing? And if we had lower taxes and fewer regulations, wouldn’t the economy be more healthy?

Furthermore, wouldn’t the economy be stronger overall — wouldn’t there be more demand for goods and services — if people had more incentive to work harder, work more efficiently and work longer hours, in order to make themselves so valuable as workers that employers would compete to hire them, offering health-insurance benefits as a bonus to secure their services? Yet if we establish a system where people receive health insurance whether they are working or unemployed, whether they are efficient and diligent or unproductive and slothful, haven’t we thereby removed a basic incentive to hard work? And, when you think about it, haven’t we removed an incentive to good health?

Have another donut, fatso! Don’t worry about the consequences, because the government will pick up the tab for your heart medicine, your diabetes treatments and therapy for your bad knees.

Also, they’ll pay for your Viagra, because fat guys need love, too.

What about malingerers and hypochondriacs? Everybody knows that some people fake illness, or use relatively minor maladies as an excuse to avoid work. And everybody knows people who are pathologically obsessed with their health, rushing to the doctor every time they get an ache or pain. Some people so enjoy the sympathy they get for being sick that they define their existence by their diseases. You meet these people and haven’t talked to them for five minutes before they start telling you about their “chronic fatigue syndrome” or bipolar disorder or whatever it is that keeps them going to the doctor every week to treat a problem that never gets better.

It would be unfair to say that all such people are suffering from psychosomatic illness or are merely too weak-minded to overcome minor difficulties, but this whiny victimhood attitude — “Feel sorry for me, I’m sick!” — seems far more commonplace now than it was 20 or 30 years ago, and excuse me for suspecting that malingerers and hypochondriacs enthusiastically support ObamaCare.

Subsidizing weaklings and whiners, by providing them “free” health care at taxpayer expense? Not just “no” — hell, no.

Not even the most conservative Republican in Congress is going to say this, because they don’t want to sound “mean-spirited,” but frankly I think we need more mean-spiritedness in Washington. We need politicians who aren’t constantly flattering the idiots who vote for them, who don’t pander to lazy moochers who look at government as if it were Santa Claus giving them Christmas presents.

What we have now is a government of the moochers, by the moochers, for the moochers, with subsidies and free stuff for all.

Or, at least, we had this government, before it shut down. And the idiots chattering on cable TV news shows seem to think this shutdown is a bad idea, for which somebody deserves blame.

ZOMG! THE STATUE OF LIBERTY IS CLOSED!

If you take that kind of frantic nonsense seriously, you should seek psychiatric treatment immediately. Send the bill to ObamaCare.

 

Category: Budget, Health Care

LIVE AT FIVESIX: 10.01.13

Posted on | October 1, 2013 | 13 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
White House Orders Government Shutdown

Feds furlough non-essential workers

Pretty sad when Xinhua has a more accurate, unbiased take on the news than ABC
Related.
800,000 Idled, Congress Still Deadlocked




Netanyahu At The UN
Throwing a wet blanket on Iran’s charm offensive

Berlusconi Calls For Vote; Key Allies Disagree
Three of five PdL ministers unwilling to resign



POLITICS
Senate Refuses To Compromise Or Negotiate On Obamacare

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

House GOP offers several bills; Reid refuses to deal with anything but “clean” continuing resolution

Does Hillary Clinton Really Have Something To Hide? CNN/NBC Cancel Planned Clinton Documentaries


Obama Signs Bill To Ensure Military Pay During Shutdown; Calls Congress “Dysfunctional”, “Irresponsible” In Video Addressed To Troops

NC Governor, Legislature Vow To Fight DOJ Lawsuit Over Voting Law

Caroline Kennedy Confirmed As Ambassador To Japan

Phony Fatwa? Group Claims Iranian Anti-Nuke Edict Cited By Obama A Hoax

Union No-Show Jobs Cost Florida Taxpayers Millions

The One Word Missing From All Those ObamaCare Ads



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Declines In Asian Trade On US Government Shutdown: NYMEX $101.95, Brent $108.04
Wall Street Stock Futures Shrug Off Shutdown
Dollar Slides As Government Shutdown Takes Toll
Amazon To Deliver 70,000 Holiday Jobs
Port Of Chicago Privatization Talks Suspended
JC Penney Shares Sink Ahead Of Stock Sale
AT&T Brings Faster Broadband To Austin As Google Threat Looms
WinPhone Sales Share Surges In Europe To Double Digits, Close To iOS
Dropbox Now Automatically Saves Screenshots
Delta Pilots To Replace Paper Charts And Manuals With Docs On Microsoft Surface Tablets
“Grand Theft Auto Online” Lands Today



SPORTS
Rays To The Playoffs After 5-2 Win Over Rangers

Loenys Martin can’t reach Evan Longoria’s two-run dinger in the third

Price goes the distance for Tampa Bay in game #163 of the regular season

Olympics Loom Large Over NHL

Cubs Fire Manager Dale Sveum, Seek “Spark Of A Winning Culture”

Brees’ Big Game Leads Saints To Easy Win Over Dolphins

Twins To Retain Ron Gardenhire With Multi-Year Deal

Mets Reward Terry Collins With Two-Year Extension


Tony Stewart Begins Rehab On Broken Leg; Says He’s Ahead Of Schedule

Thank You, Winnipeg! Your Complete Guide To The NHL Realignment

DC To Host 2015 Winter Classic

Everybody In The BCCI Loves N. Srinivasan. But Why?

Sachin Tendulkar Defiant After Rumors Of BCCI-Induced Retirement

Yuvraj Singh Returns To India Cricket Team For Australia Series

Andrew Strauss: England Nearly Boycotted 2010 ODI Series With Pakistan

As Nationals’ Manager Search Begins, Randy Knorr’s The Players’ Choice



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Taylor Swift: “I’ve Never Had A Perfect Fit With Someone”

Not ruling out another celebrity boyfriend

Still waiting for her perfect man



Lindsay Lohan’s Parents Persona Non Grata On OWN Show

Weird Al Yankovic: I’m Droppin’ A NEW ALBUM!

Amanda Bynes Moved From Psych Clinic To Malibu Rehab

Kaley Cuoco: My Engagement Started With A Fight


Miley Cyrus: I Needed To Let Go Of Hannah Montana Image

Gaah. School Run. Calories (mainly leftovers) 3,482. Texts from toy boy: 0

Mark-Paul Gosselaar: It’s A Boy!

Ashley Green Dating Liam Hemsworth’s Best Friend Paul Khoury

Kate Upton, Maksim Chmerkovsky A Couple – And It’s Serious

Bieber’s Ego Out Of Control?

Alanis Morrisette Nanny Lawsuit Opens Door To Wider Debate

Eva Longoria “Miscontrued” Over Marrying Again

Weiner Campaign’s Final Bite



FOREIGNERS
Abe Orders First Sales Tax Increase For Japan Since 1997
Obama Urges Netanyahu To Speed Up Peace Talks With Palestinians
Chemical Weapons Inspectors Head To Damascus
Venezuela Expels Top US Diplomat
Politicians From Greece’s Golden Dawn Party Due In Court
Erdogan Announces Kurdish Reforms
Wave Of Car Bombs Kills 55 In Baghdad
Dates Set For Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II Sainthood
ROK Warns Norks With Biggest Military Parade In A Decade
Lalu Prasad’s Management Skills Failed In Political Arena
Osborne Plans To Clear Debt With Austerity Until 2020
Italy Jobless Rate Hits 12.2%, Youth Unemployment At Record 40%



BLOGS & STUFF
Dead Republican Party: The Meaning Of Socialism To Americans
Valley Of The Shadow: How To Not Win Friends
Doug Powers: Bill Clinton Claims Republicans “Begging For America To Fail”
Twitchy: Fashion Statement – Pelosi Sports Costly Hermes Scarf For Shutdown Debate
American Power: The Pro-Democracy Case For Shutdowns
American Thinker: Obama/Rouhani – Peace In Our Time
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: This Stupid Week, Con Queso Addition
The Necropolitan Sentinel: Obamacare Watch – LET IT BURN
Don Surber: Daily Scoreboard, September 30
Jammie Wearing Fools: Former Australian PM Whines About Sexism
JustOneMinute: Stop Me Before I Leak Again
Pat Dollard: Piers Morgan – Iranians And Syrians Are Easier To Deal With Than Republicans
Protein Wisdom: Surviving A Government Shutdown – An Idiot’s Guide
Shot In The Dark: He’ll Never Do Lunch In This Town Again
The Jawa Report: How Jawas View The Government Shutdown
The Lonely Conservative: Massachusetts Weeding Out Traditional Families For Adoption, Foster Parenting
Megan McArdle: We Are Googling The New York Times To Death


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