Fat Tuesday; Obamacare, Bill of Health; Euthanasia, Anti-Vax, Polio, Ebola; Bad for Your Health, Science Under Siege; Food Insecurity, Gone to Waste; Psych

Fat Tuesday

• Putin Is Reviving a Stalinist Fitness Program to Whip Russians Into Shape
• The Jobs With the Highest Obesity Rates—"Strangely, people who work in healthcare tend to be less healthy than others."
• Diet drinks linked with heart disease, death
• Seven-a-day fruit and veg 'saves lives'
• Scientists Fix Errors in Controversial Paper About Saturated Fats

Obamacare

• BOOM! Obamacare Sign Ups on Track to Hit 7 Million Goal
• GOP struggles with Obamacare surge—They're whining that the White House is 'cooking the books'…
• Poll: Obamacare Support Breaks Even For First Time
• Ted Cruz asks his Facebook friends about Obamacare, gets an earful
• Obamacare fails to collapse. Time to Move on, folks. WaPo
• Krugman: Obamacare, The Unknown Ideal—"Obamacare is the conservative alternative, and you can't move further right without doing no reform at all." NYT
• Obamacare is not universal health care—"The Affordable Care Act leaves some of our neediest citizens without insurance or a reliable source of care."

Bill of Health

• Gilead Sciences' $84,000 price for hepatitis drug is scrutinized—"Lawmakers ask Gilead CEO John C. Martin to explain the rationale for selling Sovaldi for $1,000 per pill, or $84,000 for a 12-week course to treat hepatitis C."
• California, 44 other states fail at posting medical prices, report says
• New York Curbs Medical Bills Containing Surprises—"A provision in the state budget agreement will protect consumers by requiring that they be given notice when an out-of-network doctor is involved in their care." NYT

Euthanasia

• While we hesitate, the terminally ill are denied a peaceful end
• Family fights for euthanasia law for terminal patients
• Tory MP Steven Fletcher reopens euthanasia debate

Anti-Vax

• Immune to Logic: Some New York City Private Schools Have Dismal Vaccination Rates
• More than 20 cases of measles in California due to 'unvaccinated children'
• Travis County infant dies of whooping cough

Polio

• India beats the odds, beats polio
• Polio in Syria: An outbreak that threatens the Middle East
• Pakistan polio vaccinator's murder by militants raises health workers' fears—"Salma Farooqi was tortured and repeatedly shot after involvement in Peshawar's battle against polio for four years."

Ebola

• Guinea reports Ebola death toll rises to 78
• Ebola Virus Hits Second Country in West Africa—Liberia, and number three is Sierra Leone.
• Canada patient tests negative for Ebola

Bad for Your Health

• Daylight saving time linked to heart attacks: study
• Smoking Proves Hard to Shake Among the Poor NYT
• More drug-resistant infections seen in U.S. children—"A growing number of American children are developing infections caused by a worrisome type of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a new study reports."

Science Under Siege

• Scientists Condemn New FDA Study Saying BPA Is Safe: "It Borders on Scientific Misconduct"—"Researchers working on a joint NIH-FDA program to better regulate harmful chemicals accuse the agency of undermining their research with a flawed and deceptive study."
• Wikipedia founder calls alt-medicine practitioners "lunatic charlatans"—"Wales to activists who want new rules for Wikipedia: 'No, you have to be kidding me.'"
• Japan Lab Says Stem Cell Research Was Falsified

Food Insecurity

• Kentucky bill would prohibit filming of farm operations without owner's consent
• 'Pink slime' lawsuit moves forward: Could ABC News be held liable?—"For many Americans, ABC News’s 'pink slime' report was the kind of hard-hitting public interest piece that changes rules and punishes bad actors. But to critics, it became synonymous with media misconduct."
• Russian dairy plant closed after workers bathe in the milk

Gone to Waste

• Costco to dump $2.6m of peanut butter in New Mexico landfill—"The retailer Costco refused to take shipment of the peanut butter and declined requests to let it be donated to food banks or repackaged or sold to brokers who provide food to institutions like prisons."
• "Sell By" And "Best By" Dates on Food Are Basically Made Up—But Hard to Get Rid Of
• The world's growing love affair with the most wasteful form of coffee there is

Psych

• 'Intelligent people are more likely to trust others'
• Why Mentally Ill People Should Have Access to E-Cigarettes
• Tears of the clowns who are out of a job—"Clowns say work has dried up as the 'cynical' public now views them as sinister."

Obamacare, Hobby Lobby; Koch Suckers; Hi-Yo Silver; Racism

Obamacare

• The Affordable Care Act Is Working—Will it be really succesful? Politico
• Poll: 60 Percent Of Uninsured Don't Know About Looming Obamacare Deadline
• Obama To Latinos: Enrolling In ACA Won't Affect Undocumented Relatives
• Voters should know who's holding up their health care WaPo
• New anti-Obamacare ad makes misleading claims—As someone who doesn't live in the US, I ask: are there enough, if any, pro-ACA ads running to counter this propaganda? WaPo
• The Bizarre Case Of Matt Drudge And His Obamacare 'Liberty Tax'
• Obama Co-Opts Tea Party Slogan For Obamacare Bumper Sticker

Hobby Lobby

• Justices Wonder If Obamacare Tweaks Undercut Birth Control Mandate
• Kagan Throws Scalia's Own Religious Liberty Arguments Back In His Face
• Justice Kennedy Thinks Hobby Lobby Is An Abortion Case — That's Bad News For Birth Control
• Birth control is not a religious issue; it is a basic health-care issue
• Supreme Court signals support for corporate religious claims
• Your Health Care, Your Choices (Amen, to That!)—"The contraception mandate rightfully highlights preventative care, including a woman's right to use her benefits as she so chooses—whether it impedes on a company like Hobby Lobby's religious beliefs or not."
• Should Corporations Have the Same Religious Freedom Rights as People?—"An analysis of today's Supreme Court arguments in the 'Hobby Lobby' case."

Koch Suckers

• The Koch Brothers: Only 48 Percent of Americans Know Them, Most Dislike Them
• An amazing chart on how the Koch brothers are dominating the Senate ad race WaPo
• Whining about the Koch Brothers is a losing strategy

Hi-Yo Silver

• Nate Silver's 2014 Senate prediction: The FiveThirtyEight whiz forecasts Democratic defeat, and Democrats are furious—Shooting the messenger. Typical.
• Nate Silver Knocks 'Hypocritical' Democrats Who Criticized His Analysis—This should be a wake-up call.
• Nate Silver Is 'Happy To Forgive' Paul Krugman For Acting Like A Hedgehog

Racism

• No, Donald Rumsfeld Wasn't Calling Obama a "Trained Ape"—Tell that to Belgium's The Daily Herald and their so-called satire.
• A Minneapolis Restaurant Hosted A Nazi-Themed Party On MLK Day—They did nazi the ensuing uproar.
• Black students eight times more likely to be suspended than whites in Madison public schools

Class War, Accountability, Financial Shenanigans, Out of House and Home; Politics, Vote Machinations, Media, Benghazi; Surveillance and Privacy, Civil Liberties

Class War

• Krugman: A War on the Poor—"What happened to the Republican Party? It's almost as if the party is solely focused on its hostility to the less fortunate." NYT
• Our family will lose $44 in food stamps—"Several families told CNNMoney their food stamps usually don't last a full month. They eat a lot of rice, beans and pasta."
• Oh SNAP, veterans get dissed by the GOP—"Remember how the likes of Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin railed against President Obama for the cuts to veterans' benefits that resulted from the Cruz-caused shutdown?" WaPo
• Sen. Sanders: The right way to make a federal budget
• Congratulations, America! Your deficit fell 37 percent in 2013 WaPo

Accountability

• Time to Jail the Banksters—"Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone Magazine, joins Thom Hartmann. It didn't take Wall Street's allies in the financial media long to start whining about JPMorgan's $13 billion settlement with the federal government. But is that record fine really as bad as the people on CNBC say it is?"
• U.S. senators Menendez, Warren press SEC over political spending—"Our collective job is to urge them. Push them. Harass them until they do the right thing."
• JPMorgan settlement is justice, not a shakedown—Will it stop them from doing more financial manipulations? WaPo
• Barclays suspends currency traders—"UK bank Barclays has suspended six traders as part of a probe into suggestions that currency markets could have been rigged, the BBC has learnt."
• Fannie Mae sues nine banks for rigging Libor

Financial Shenanigans

• House Passes Deregulation Bill Written by Citigroup
• Billionaire Steven Cohen's hedge fund could pay $1B fine in fraud case: sources
• Lloyds head Antonio Horta-Osório to see £2.5m bonus at bailed-out bank

Out of House and Home

• Alan Greenspan owes America an apology—"The former Fed chair is promoting his new book. He should admit his role in the housing crisis, not insult our intelligence."
• Ariz. man arrested for selling someone else's home
• Special Report: U.S. builders hoard mineral rights under new homes

Politics

• Voters' Anger Over Shutdown Is Inspiring Democrats to Run—"Previously reluctant Democrats in places like Arkansas, Florida, Nebraska and New Jersey are suddenly deciding to challenge Republicans for House seats." NYT
• Florida's Former G.O.P. Governor to Run for Job as Democrat—"Charlie Crist has filed paperwork to run for his old job with his new party." Center-right is the new left. NYT
• GOP 'extremist movement' prompts NC candidate to switch to Democrat
• Romney Donors Back Democrat Over Tea Party in Georgia
• Wendy Davis Hits Cruz On Role In Shutdown
• McDaniel Now Says He Only Attended One Neo-Confederate Event
• Ted Cruz's Dad: I'd Like To See Obama Go 'Back To Kenya'—Él es un racista loco.
• Poll: Growing Number of Republicans Dislike GOP WSJ

Vote Machinations

• Opponents Score A Victory Against Arizona Voting Restrictions
• The Right to Vote—"Shelby County v. Holder; which eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, is leading to a new era of voter suppression that parallels the pre-1960s era."
• Everything That's Happened Since Supreme Court Ruled on Voting Rights Act
• George Will: Who Cares About Corruption? Citizens United Is "Excellent"
• The U.S. Needs a Constitutional Right to Vote—At the least, election day should be a federal holiday.

Media

• The Lies That Will Kill America—"The fawning coverage of crony capitalists by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. does America a disservice."
• The Daily Show: Wit Happens—"The media uses Jon's lampooning of the Affordable Care Act as evidence of its impotence."
• Media mayhem divides and misleads us—"CNN, MSNBC, Fox, they're all responsible."

Benghazi

• Star Benghazi "Witness" May Not Have Been an Actual Witness—"For weeks, it seems, Jones tried to profit off his brush with disaster. In a Fox News report on Monday, reporter Adam Housley said his source relationship with Jones ended after he insisted upon receiving money." Foreign Policy
• David Brock Calls On CBS To Retract Faulty Benghazi Story
• First on CNN: US commandos were poised for raid to capture Benghazi suspect

Surveillance and Privacy

• NSA Files: Decoded—"What the revelations mean for you."
• Snowden Asks U.S. to Stop Treating Him Like a Traitor—"In a letter handed to a German politician, the former intelligence contractor says that 'my government continues to treat dissent as defection.'" NYT
• GCHQ and European spy agencies worked together on mass surveillance—"Edward Snowden papers unmask close technical cooperation and loose alliance between British, German, French, Spanish and Swedish spy agencies."
• Senate Intelligence Committee passes NSA bill critics say doesn't go far enough
• EFF: being forced to decrypt your files violates the Fifth

Civil Liberties

• World's anger at Obama policies goes beyond Europe and the NSA
• Japan Likely To Pass New Secrecy Law That Would Put Whistleblowers And Journalists In Jail
• Poland asks European court to hide CIA secret torture prison case from public

Shutdown Shut Down, Debt Default Delayed, GOP, Tea Party, Media, Obamacare, Repercussions, Politics, Economy, 'Murica!, Race and Racism; Surveillance and Privacy

Shutdown Shut Down

• Obama signs bill to end partial shutdown, stave off debt ceiling crisis
• Barack Obama defeats the Republican Party: The president's aggressive strategy on the government shutdown and debt limit crushed the GOP—Bipartisanship only works if both sides are sane.
• US debt ceiling crisis – Barack Obama has won the shutdown. His prize is a lame duck presidency
• McConnell-Reid Deal Includes $3 Billion Earmark for Kentucky Project
• Winners and losers of the government shutdown WaPo
• That's how you treat a bully!: Democrats win — and learn a huge lesson—"GOP is finally surrendering. But it will try more extortion soon -- and Democrats will have to stand just as strong." Salon
• The defunding debacle—"The Republican push to defund Obamacare defied the strategic wisdom of the ages."

Debt Default Delayed

• Reich: What to Expect During the Cease-Fire
• Will Debt-Ceiling Extortion Ever Return?—It's over for now.
• Warren Buffett: Debt limit is a 'political weapon of mass destruction'
• What's Next For The Federal Budget
• 3 reasons not to celebrate the shutdown deal

GOP

• The Republican Surrender—"After inflicting enormous damage, the House wins virtually nothing and gives up." NYT
• Republican Party lose on government shutdown and debt limit: The GOP rewrites their defeat
• John Boehner, GOP Savaged: 'Humiliating Failure,' 'Disaster'
• Conservatives Learned The Wrong Lessons From The Shutdown Debacle
• Darrell Issa To Investigate How Republicans' Government Shutdown Is Totally Obama's Fault Somehow
• GOP: We can easily avoid default Thursday by not paying Social Security checks
• GOP Sen. Isakson Blames Heritage Action For Collapse Of House Gov't Funding Deal

Tea Party

• GOP's huge Tea Party mess has only just begun—"John Boehner thought the last few weeks were rough? The coming months could present him with even more headaches." Salon
• Insani-Tea Reigns: Koch Brothers Fail To Control The Monster They Created
• Tea Party's Popularity Reaches New Low, Poll Finds
• Ted Cruz Was Never Going to Filibuster the Debt Deal—He wanted the spotlight on him as the GOP's leading presidential candidate for 2016.
• Sorry, Houston Chronicle, but Ted Cruz won—"To the dismay of the newspaper that endorsed him, Ted Cruz emerges from the shutdown mess a right-wing hero." Salon
• Ted Cruz Blames Senate GOP For 'Bombing Our Own Troops' In The House—One sore loser [WaPo].
• Reign Of Morons: The Apotheosis, Starring Ted Yoho
• "The Surrender Caucus Is the Whiner Caucus"—"House GOP members try to see the upside of defeat.
• The Tea Party As A Religion
• A tea party purge among the GOP—Starting with those who voted for the debt deal. WaPo
• Tea Party Vows Future Fights as Republicans Assess Damage—They gunnin' for more.
• Tea party activists call bipartisan deal a capitulation, say they are unbowed

Media

• 'Lying To The American People': House Conservatives Blame Press For Shutdown Surrender
• 'Balanced' coverage ignores nine reasons why the shutdown is a GOP Idea—"Ignoring, denying or minimising such evidence in the pursuit of false balance dangerously mis-represents the news."
• Right-Wing Media: We Didn't Lose The Shutdown Fight, We Were Betrayed

Obamacare

• At least 185,000 people have applied for Obamacare WaPo
• Dear Freedom-Loving, Constitution-Upholding, Socialism-Hating, Red-Blooded Americans—A cowboy's words on the ACA.
• About 5.2 Million Poor People Won't Get Insurance Because Their States Resisted Obamacare: Study
• Ann Coulter says no doctors who went to an American medical school will be accepting Obamacare: Pants on Fire!
• Heritage Action Reverses Defund Obamacare Push: Can't Repeal Until 2017

Repercussions

• Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Tea Partiers
• Furloughed Federal Employees Return To Work Thursday
• S&P: Shutdown Cost U.S. $24 Billion, 0.6% GDP In Projected Growth
• Even as shutdown deal nears, 'a Kafka-esque moment' at parks hearing—"House Republicans accused the National Park Service of barricading open-air monuments such as the World War II memorial in Washington to make the shutdown ' as painful and visible as possible.'" Then they shouldn't have shut down the government in the first place.
• Rep. Noem faces natural and political disaster after South Dakota blizzard—She voted for the shutdown which she her state wants to be exempted from.

Politics

• Redefining Rock Bottom: Another Scary Poll For Congress
• Mandatory Voting Will End Extremism and Government Dysfunction
• 'She's Got Really Hot Breasts, Man!' Lonegan Aide Bashes Booker With X-Rated Rant—Mudslinging didn't work.
• Wisconsin: Three more state workers got raises after phantom job transfers
• NC governor spending $230,000 on mansion bathrooms—No money for teachers; lots of it for shit.
• The Joe Rogan Experience with Stefan Molyneux
• Blast from the Past: Dr. Paul: Not board-certified, but self-certified—"Asked by a Louisville reporter when he would explain his dubious certification, Rand Paul said: "Uh ... never.'" Face of libertardianism. Salon

Economy

• Robert Shiller: Income Inequality Is 'Most Important Problem'
• Welfare Isn't Too Generous—Wages Are Too Low
• Food stamp system restored after 17-state crash
• Robert Reich Goes 'Hulk' on trickle down
• Guys, We've Actually Found A Hilarious And Fiscally Responsible Elected Official

'Murica!

• Americans need to discover how the world sees them—"There's little awareness of how the budget crisis has eroded US credibility. It's time for a reverse Christopher Columbus."
• The Ungratitude of the Normally Apathetic
• Why I will never return to the USA

Race and Racism

• Redford: Racism drives some Obama critics
• Obama to Prioritize Immigration Reform Once Fiscal Crisis Resolved
• Supreme Court justices skeptical of affirmative-action arguments WaPo
• Red Lobster Waitress Gets $10K Tip After Racist Receipt
• 'Birther' judge banished to traffic court

Surveillance and Privacy

• Reports: NSA Director To Step Down In 2014—Fallout from the Snowden leaks.
• Secret Surveillance Court Insists It's Not a Rubber Stamp
• U.S.-Style Personal Data Gathering Is Spreading Worldwide
• DOJ Argues No One Has Standing To Challenge Metadata Collection Even As It Says Govt Can Legally Collect Everyone's
• Unbreakable encryption comes to the U.S.—"The first quantum key distribution network in the United States promises un-hackable data security."
• How to Design — And Defend Against — The Perfect Security Backdoor
• Blast from the Past: Inside Account of U.S. Eavesdropping on Americans—"Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as part of the U.S. terrorist surveillance program, according to two former military intercept operators who say they listened to private phone calls, even phone sex, of US soldiers in Iraq calling home."

Government Shutdown Day 13, Grand Ol' Tea Party; Religion; Is the Pope Catholic, Sex Abuse Scandals; Evolution Denialists; Islamists; Marriage Equality and Family; Politics; Matthew Shepard

Government Shutdown Day 13

• GOP Filibusters Debt Limit Hike As Anxieties Flare Over Default—So much for the "bipartisan" Senate talks [WaPo] that got the House GOP furious after ending negotiations with Obama. Now "things are not moving now" on the debt deal where hapless Republicans [NYT] are still trying to blame Democrats.
• Dems Hold Firm After GOP Filibuster Of Debt Limit Bill—They better not cave.
• Government Shutdown Negotiations Stuck On Sequestration
• House Yanks Bill After Alan Grayson Tries To Add 'Clean CR' Language—"Grayson's goal was purely symbolic; he wanted to see how many Republicans would vote for the idea of passing a clean funding bill to reopen the government, with no strings attached."
• World top bankers warn of dire consequences if U.S. defaults—It's not all about U.S..
• Dollar's reserve role at risk from US budget uncertainty: ECB's Nowotny
• Government Shutdown Set To Ripple Through States As Layoff Notices Begin To Go Out
• Government shutdown leaves courts running on fumes
• Poll: Just 25 Percent Think Their Own Member Of Congress Deserves Reelection—They say that now.
• Wanna know what the Government Shutdown is REALLY about?

Grand Ol' Tea Party

• Republicans with a death-wish are holding US to ransom—"With the American government stuck in its second full week of a congressional-compelled shutdown, popular pressure is making even hyper-partisans sweat on Capitol Hill."
• G.O.P.'s Hopes to Take Senate Are Dimming—"Republicans are being forced to explain why they are not to blame for the government shutdown, while Tea Party activists pose an insurgent threat." NYT
• Most Americans blame Republicans. But will it matter in 2014?
• It's time for stocktaking by GOP leaders WaPo
• Reich: Why Giving Republican Bullies a Bloody Nose Isn't Enough
• At the Values Voter Summit, It's YOLO Conservatism—And the crazed ones to go on unobstructed overdrive.
• Ted Cruz wins Values Voter Summit straw poll—Where is wonder boy Rubio? Politico
• Cognitive Dissonance and the Republican Denial of Reality
• One Look At These Emails, And You'll See Why Republicans Let Ted Cruz Lead Them Off A Cliff
• Perverting the State of Our Union—"Tea Partiers mean no good to the country that the rest of us believe in, because they regard the country that the rest of us believe in as no good."

Religion

• This Is Exactly the GOP that Religious Conservatives Want—"The public broadly opposes Republican tactics in the fiscal crisis, but the party's core is simply loving it."
• North Penn School District clarifies 'no Halloween' notice
• Bible scholar claims Christianity invented as part of ancient Roman psy-ops campaign

Is the Pope Catholic

• U.S. Catholics, unlike their Bishops, overwhelmingly approve of the new pope
• Muslim leader says pope is model of what religious leader should be
• Vatican misspells Jesus on Pope Francis commemorative coins
• Catholic bishop spends €350,000 on wardrobes
• Kass: Catholic Charities won't accept donation from Kuma's—Dat Communion Wafer garnish.

Sex Abuse Scandals

• Paedophilia is caused by divorce, says Poland's top Catholic bishop as he blames parents for not bringing up children properly—Thankfully, their Archbishop has issued an apology.
• Brown vetoes bill giving sex abuse victims more time to file lawsuits—"His veto comes after a heated opposition campaign led by the Catholic Church. Groups representing victims condemn the decision." He said the bill "singled out private organizations" and excluded insitutions such as public schools.
• For an accused Cold Spring priest, retirement income came with a premium
• Philly priest accused of raping altar boy
• Clergy abuse scandal reaches Minnesota archdiocese
• Archdiocese insider battles Catholic Church over sex abuse
• Pastor of West Side Cleveland church charged with soliciting sex while being HIV-positive
• Twin Cities survivor of priest sex abuse criticizes church
• Saudi Arabian preacher gets 8 years in prison for raping and killing his five-year-old daughter
• How Scientology coerced a child to have an abortion

Evolution Denialists

• Anti-Evolution Group Pitches a Hissy Fit When a Newspaper Reports the Truth
• Creationists cite 'academic freedom' to teach beliefs in schools—Teach it in Sunday school where it belongs.
• Creationists battle atheists in latest billboard war

Islamists

• Greatest threat to Muslim world is from within: Malaysia—"Muslims around the world need to unite against extremists who are using Islam as an excuse to commit violence, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has said. Moderation is the key to winning the battle being waged for the future of Islam...."
• Religious tension in Pakistan as Muslims dig up Hindu grave
• Dr. Wafa Sultan on Muslim extremism

Marriage Equality and Family

• Pennsylvania Governor Laughingly Compares Same-Sex Marriage To Incest
• Former GOP State Chairman: New Jersey and Gay Marriage Belong Together—The judge denies Christie's request for a delay.
• Same-sex marriage opponents want lawmakers to "let the people decide"
• Marriage equality will arrive in Utah soon—"Utah's ban on same-sex marriage was doomed the moment the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act last June."
• Straight Man Gets Emotional Over Gay Brother's Struggles After Wedding
• Grandfather Writes Letter To His Daughter After She Kicks Out His Gay Grandson
• Brown signs bill to allow children more than two legal parents—"The bill — similar to one the governor vetoed last year — had been opposed as an attack on traditional family; proponents argued that the changing family structure needs to be addressed."
• Girl expelled from school for having two dads

Politics

• Kuwait Hatching Plan to "Detect Gays," Bar Them From Entering Country
• Gay-Rights Rally In Russia Ends With Clashes, Arrests
• Gays Want to Force Christians to 'Participate in Their Sodomy' Says Ex-Navy Chaplain—Projection much?

Matthew Shepard

• Fifteen years after Matthew Shepard's murder, Wyoming remains anti-gay—"Kidnapped, tied to a fence, pistol-whipped and tortured, Shepard died from his injuries. Though the crime sparked nationwide debate, his home state has remained resistant to change."
• Sandy Rios At Values Voter Summit: Matthew Shepard's Murder Was 'A Total Fraud'
• Blast from the Past: Fox sends letter of apology to Matthew Shepard's mother.

Government Shutdown Day 12, GOP, Tea Party, Obamacare, Media; Workers and Wage Slaves, Wal-Mart, On the Job; Plutocracy and Inequality; Wall Street, Accountability, JPMorgan

Government Shutdown Day 12

• GOP scrambles to develop new plan to end shutdown, avoid default—But they're still talking with the White House. WaPo
• Republicans Intent on Keeping Hostage Power Forever
• Klein: Baby Boomers Ruined The Government—"The U.S. can lay the blame for its current political mess at the feet of my generation."
• Top 10 states hurt by the government shutdown
• Government shutdown is already doing severe damage—Won't someone think of the children! (For realsies.) WaPo
• Shutdown's Quiet Toll, From Idled Research to Closed Wallets—"Even if a deal to end the shutdown is reached soon, the stalling of scientific research and the disruption of federal workers' spending patterns could have a lasting impact." NYT
• Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore to reopen
• Exchange program gives Russians a glimpse of a democracy hardly at work WaPo
• G.O.P. Helps Americans Like Government—""There' nothing better than shutting down government to remind people of how much they need it." NYT
• Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Tea Partiers

GOP

• McCain To Fox News: No, The Shutdown Is The GOP's Fault—In other news, Rep. Gohmer has implied the senator supports Al Qaeda.
• McConnell: I'll 'Work With The Government We Have, Not the One I Wish We Had'
• Senate GOP growing impatient with House
• Who is responsible for the US shutdown? The same idiots responsible for the 2008 meltdown—"In opposing Obamacare, the radical-populist right exposes its own twisted ideology."
• The GOP's Civil War About Nothing
• How The Mighty Republican Party Became So Ignorant
• 'It's Hard to See How Boehner Gets Out of This': Dick Armey on the Shutdown
• Shutdown Takes A Toll On GOP In Virginia Governor's Race
• Why Republicans should be very, very afraid
• The shutdown probably won’t hurt Republicans in 2014. Here’s what will. WaPo

Tea Party

• Conservatives defiant in the face of GOP troubles
• The Tea Party's Government Default Fantasy—"Right-wing politicians think it's no big deal if the federal government fails to pay its debts. What planet are they living on?"
• Obamacare Foes Using Shutdown Echo South’s Nullifiers—"The Tea Party-inspired drive to derail Obamacare is anchored in a place where opposition to the federal government is as old as the nation: the American South."
• Cruz scoffs at NBC/WSJ poll: 'That's not reflective of where this country is'—The return of the GOP poll unskewers.
• Democrats Must Stop Ted Cruz's Hollywood Ending
• Cruzification of the GOP WaPo
• Steve Pearce Tells Furloughed Workers To Take Out Loans To Pay Bills—Out of touch millionaire.
• RedState's Erick Erickson Vows To Help Boehner, McConnell's Opponents
• 'Truckers to Shut Down America' Shut Down by Traffic—One of the organizers of the failed event [WaPo] believes Obama is Osama Bin Landen in disguise.
• The Right Wing Fifty Years Later: The John Birchers' Tea Party

Obamacare

• Some Dems Say Medical Device Tax Repeal Is A 'Moronic' Idea
• Now You Can Go Window Shopping For Obamacare Coverage
• Obamacare's balky Web sites endanger its launch WaPo
• Federal health exchange sending confusing enrollment information to insurers WaPo
• Hollywood writes a new storyline for Obamacare—"Hollywood Health and Society, part of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, has created a health care-information pipeline straight to the entertainment industry."

Media

• False equivalence: how 'balance' makes the media dangerously dumb—"We've seen it in climate change reporting; we see it in shutdown coverage. Journalists should be unbiased, yes, but not brainless."
• No, MSM, 'Both Sides' Are Not to Blame for the Republican Shutdown of the U.S. Government
• It's Not Just Political Districts. Our News Is Gerrymandered, Too.—"The government shutdown reflects a political system that reinforces extremism. The news media system isn't much different lately." NYT
• PolitiFact to launch PunditFact, checking pundits and media figures
• How Rush Limbaugh Shaped The GOP's Shutdown Woes—According to him, Obama reached back in time to make this mess the GOP's in.
• Truth in the Age of Niallism—"Harvard historian Niall Ferguson still thinks bluster can substitute for facts."
• MSNBC President Wants 'Investigation' Into Fox News' 'Impossible' Ratings Gain

Workers and Wage Slaves

• New York State penalizes, bans 'payday' loan collectors
• McDonald's Employee Confronts Executive: I Can't Afford Shoes For My Children—She got arrested for trespassing, but at least she got her message out.
• Unpaid Intern Is Ruled Not an 'Employee,' Not Protected From Sexual Harassment
• Why Your Startup Can't Find Developers—Money quote: "I know one well-known startup who has been trying to fill a role for over four months, and has gone through two dozen candidates, simply because the founder mandates 80-hour workweeks." Fuck that shit.
• Americans Would Rather Remain Unemployed Than Work for Companies with Bad Corporate Reputations
• Report: Foxconn using forced student labor to build Sony's PS4
• I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss

Wal-Mart

• Swedish pensions dump 'union-busting' Walmart
• Town in Michigan Whacks Homeowners for Appealing Wal-Mart Decision
• Brazil: Walmart is ordered to pay R $ 22.3 mn per damage

On the Job

• The Myth of Executive Stress—"How tough is it, really, to be the boss?"
• He got 1%, we can't hire him—"The psychometric test was supposed to produce a 'true' reflection of how someone saw themselves..." and if they were a good fit with the company.
• Spaniards are less productive, constantly tired because Spain is in the wrong time zone WaPo
• Bosses respond to the dancing YouTube quitter—"Staff at the former company of Marina Shifrin, the woman who danced her resignation, respond on YouTube (by dancing and taking their pants off). Were they all told to dance or else?"
• 1 in 5 U.S. Workers: I'm Too Educated for My Job—"Actually, that's not so bad, by international standards."

Plutocracy and Inequality

• World Bank Whistleblower Reveals How The Global Elite Rule The World
• How Redistribution to the Rich Has Broken the Back of America
• Are Americans dumb? No, it's the inequality, stupid—"The US and UK have pitifully low OECD test scores. They are also the countries with some of the greatest inequality."

Wall Street

• Pension-Fund Looters Get Tax Breaks, Too
• Richmond's rules: Why one California town is keeping Wall Street up at night WaPo
• Charges dismissed in last cases from Occupy Wall Street march

Accountability

• N.Y. Fed Fires Examiner Who Took On Goldman Sachs
• The Wall Street Protection Racket: Pay the Government Fines and Bankers Don't Get Prosecuted
• Big bank fines aren't working—"The penalties are greater than ever, but financial firms keep turning profits -- while the rest of us pay." Salon
• HSBC money-laundering fine: key players—"Where are the bosses who presided over HSBC's years as banker to drug lords, terrorists and rogue states?"
• New York to Sue Wells Fargo Over Mortgage Settlement NYT

JPMorgan

• How Jamie Dimon's Getting Away With It—"Why the biggest fines in regulatory history are no problem for JPMorgan Chase's CEO."
• This is America's worst regulator (and JPMorgan's best pal) — Thomas Curry Salon
• CNBC Jumps Shark, Drops Pretense And Does JPMorgan Damage Control Live
• How I botched it on CNBC—"It was fun TV, but I didn't make an argument that could penetrate the profit-fixated bubble of the finance press." Salon
• The $4 Billion Question: Do We Value JPMorgan More Than Consumer Protection?
• JP Morgan is spending more on fines and lawyers than on employee salaries
• Jamie Dimon Books First-Ever Loss at JPMorgan

Government Shutdown Day 8, Default Denialists, Debt Ceiling, GOP, Tea Party, Obamacare, Exchanges, Politifact; Citizens United II, Surveillance and Privacy

Government Shutdown Day 8

• 19 Times Democrats Tried to Negotiate With Republicans—"The GOP's biggest talking point of the shutdown is only true if you ignore everything that happened before last week."
• Reid says Dems will not give in to GOP demands.
• Votes are there to break shutdown, but not the will
• Shutdown Costs at $1.6 Billion With $160 Million Each Day
• Get your fiscal house in order: China warns US as superpower expresses concern for $1.3tn of investments
• Singapore PM criticizes U.S. 'game of chicken'
• Carl Bernstein Slams Media's '50/50' Shutdown Coverage: 'This Is About The Republican Party'—Shooting down the false equivalancy of the "both sides do it" rhetoric.
• Don't slam D.C. for the shutdown, America: You sent these wackos here—"You sent these lawmakers here, voters. That imported brand of cuckoo is what's causing this shutdown." WaPo
• Colbert on shutdown: Republicans already compromised on 'having Mitt Romney be president'
• The Government Shutdown, Told in LEGO

Default Denialists

• Crisis? What Crisis?—"How House Republicans are convincing themselves that defaulting on the country's debt wouldn't be the disaster everybody claims it'd be." The first stage is denial [NYT].
• Meet Nine Republicans Down For Defaulting On The National Debt
• Here Are Three Debt-Ceiling Lies You'll Hear From the GOP This Week
• Behold the GOP's Terrifying New Debt Ceiling Theory: Default is Inevitable
• Right-wing nutjobs' last stand: The debt limit endgame arrives—"As the debt limit deadline approaches, conservatives are trotting out the real nonsense. The fantasy is almost over." Salon

Debt Ceiling

• Shutdown Merges With Debt Debate as Senate Seeks Strategy
• Don't want to raise debt ceiling? Get ready for austerity
• Government shutdown unlikely to damage economy, but debt limit could be catastrophe WaPo
• GOP will be dared to filibuster debt ceiling: Harry Reid makes his move—"Majority leader will force GOP to give up their debt limit extortion dream -- or filibuster America into default." But Republicans are angry and desperate to get something "big" out of this debacle. Salon
• Josh Marshall: What I Think Is Happening

GOP

• Shutdown Poll: GOP Disapproval High Politico
• Post/ABC News poll: GOP is getting blamed for the shutdown—And rightly so. Their frame game is failing. WaPo
• Peter King: GOP Is Responsible For The Government Shutdown
• 8 Flagrant Examples of Republican Shutdown Hypocrisy—"They claim they didn't want a shutdown, but these GOP politicians have been clamoring for one since 2010."
• The House GOP has nothing to show for its government shutdown WaPo
• A G.O.P. Moderate in the Middle ... of a Jam WaPo
• What John Boehner's ambition has to do with the shutdown
• Opinion: Boehner is leader in name only
• Harry Reid: 'Speaker Boehner Has A Credibility Problem'
• GOP Rep Apologizes For 'Shameful' Remarks, Asks To Have Salary Withheld

Tea Party

• Tea party Republicans blame Obama for the shutdown they planned
• Bill Moyers: Tea Partiers 'have sucked the last bit of soul' from GOP
• Tea Party's Strategy Is a Proven Loser
• Republicans fighting back against the tea party WaPo
• GOP Rep Blames Cruz For Shutdown: 'He Took A Lot Of Folks Into The Ditch'
• Devin Nunes accuses Ted Cruz of lying about shutdown—Though Nunes's still a bit confused on what he wants to do.
• Ex-GOP insider unloads: Blame "neo-Confederate insurrectionists" for shutdown Salon

Obamacare

• Obamacare is here. Get used to it.—"It will get better over time, but already, the act is a beautiful thing." WaPo
• GOP's latest shutdown delusion: They missed the Obamacare negotiations!—"They ignore a year of hearings and desperate bargaining on Obamacare. Plus: The worst shutdown punditry ever."
• Study Confirms Fox Used GOP-Friendly Language To Try To Stop Health Care Reform
• Jon Stewart: Republicans can’t take advantage of Obamacare's problems because 'they're f*cking nuts'
• Ted Cruz: Destroying Entire Planet Best Way to Stop Obamacare—A satire piece.

Exchanges

• The real story behind all those Obamacare waivers
• Health insurance shoppers suffer sticker shock—Single payer, single payer, single payer.
• Why It Doesn't Matter If People Aren't Signing Up for Obamacare Yet

Politifact

• Tweets and bloggers say Obama used government shutdown to close Amber Alert system—False.
• Did Obama shut down the ocean as part of the shutdown?—False.
• Ted Cruz says 'a strong bipartisan majority' in the House of Representatives 'voted to defund Obamacare'—False.
• GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling assails "sweetheart" deal for lawmakers, staff under Obamacare—Pants on fire.
• A man opted out of Obamacare after the marketplace launched on Oct. 1, 2013, and was informed he owed a $4,000 fine.—Pants on fire.

Citizens United II

• 'Citizens United II' could open floodgates
• This Supreme Court Case Could Usher In a "System of Legalized Corruption"
• Supreme Court Hears Another Challenge To Campaign Finance Law—"What is needed in the modern political system, argues lawyer Bopp, is more money, not less."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Another victim of US gov't shutdown? Obama's surveillance review panel
• NSA inundated by FOIA requests after Snowden leaks
• Australia prepared briefing on US global internet spying program PRISM before Snowden revelations
• Former NSA contractor designs 'surveillance-proof' font
• Mugged by a Mug Shot Online—"Web sites are publishing arrest photos of millions of Americans and often charging fees to remove the pictures." NYT
• 'Revenge porn' outlawed in California—"Fines and jail sentences may be imposed on people who post naked photos of their former partners without permission."
• Halle Berry backed anti-paparazzi bill becomes law

Government Shutdown Day 6, GOP, Tea Party, Obamacare, Repercussions, Church and State, Racism, Corruption; Tor and the Silk Road, Spying and Surveillance

Government Shutdown Day 6

• Yes, the White House Is 'Winning'
• Why Obama Doesn't Care If He's Winning or Losing the PR Battle—"Now that he doesn't have to face voters again, it's about fixing the government."
• The Shutdown Prophet—"Washington couldn't have gone dark without a radicalized Republican Party. Or maybe it was destined to all along."
• Shutdown's roots lie in deeply embedded divisions in America's politics WaPo
• The Triumph Of The Ratfuckers—"Let us raise a morning glass to Donald Segretti, the ratfucker."
• If America is the world's greatest power, why the infantile politics?—"The US is on the brink of disaster, brought to it by a movement unique in its startling lack of realism and rigour."
• Dem Rep Blasts GOP Shutdown Stalemate: 'So We Sit Here Until They Figure Out They F*ck*n' Lost'

GOP

• Dennis Ross, GOP Rep: 'Pride' Is Why Republicans Won't Budge On Government Shutdown—Their idea of 'compromise' is anything but.
• House GOP flounders to explain shutdown
• Republicans, Over the Cliff
• The shutdown is a Republican civil war WaPo
• Mitch McConnell's vanishing act WaPo
• Boehner's Shutdown Fallback Plan Is Doomed
• Fool me with a budget commission once, shame on you. Fool me eight times …
• GOP floats six-week funding and debt ceiling extension
• Republicans in California greet government shutdown with worry—It's not all sunshine.
• SNL skewers John Boehner and Michelle Bachmann Hilarious Miley Cyrus Parody 'We Did Stop (The Government)'

Tea Party

• For Rep. Ted Yoho, government shutdown is 'the tremor before the tsunami'—"I’m not going to raise the debt ceiling. [...] I think, personally, it would bring stability to the world markets." Freaky scary stupidity.
• Reid: Boehner Has Been 'Waylaid' By Tea Party
• Obama: Unlike Cruz, I Didn't Seek Media Attention As Senator
• Riding the Tea Party tiger: Has it been worth it for GOP?
• Slaves to 'the base'—"Increasingly, American politics is controlled by the most militant factions within each party." And how base they are indeed.

Obamacare

• The Truth About Obamacare and How It Solves the Suffering of the Insured
• The myth about job-killing Obamacare—"It won't be the job killer the GOP makes it out to be."
• The Uninsured Are Spread Throughout Red States, Too—"The people who stand to gain the most from the health care law don't live in just Democratic House districts."
• Frankenstein Goes to Congress—"When it comes to Obamacare, Republicans are hanging on to the towel." NYT
• Obamacare begins – and the right is terrified that it will work
• Michigan battle over 'Obamacare' becomes fight for soul of GOP—"Analysis: State Republicans narrowly favor Medicaid expansion."
• Nina Dobrev poses semi-nude to show her support for Obamacare—#GetCovered

Repercussions

• Closure of War Memorials Continues to Cause Conflict
• Government shutdowns are even worse for Washington's museums than you think
• US government researchers barred from scientific conferences
• Lake Mead property owners forced out until shutdown ends
• Federal judge slaps down Darrell Issa over request for shutdown exception
• House Passes Bill Allowing Back Pay For Furloughed Workers
• Pentagon to recall most furloughed workers, Hagel says

Church and State

• The Theology of Government Shutdown: Christian Dominionism
• Christian TV Host Asks God for 'Military Takeover' of Obama's Presidency
• Virginia Republican: 'Jesus' saved me from Harvard Law School

Racism

• 'Serious Racism Here': Ed Schultz Insists GOP's Shutdown Showdown Motivated by 'Hate'
• The GOP's White Southern Republican Problem
• Conservatives' Biggest Fear: Being Called Racist
• Allen West reportedly fired for anti-Semitic remark
• Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio to be overseen by monitor, judge rules

Corruption

• Scott Walker tramples Wisconsin values with United Sportsmen scandal
• Still in Office, Mayor Already Collecting $99,735 Annual Public Pension
• Postal Service defaults on $5.6 billion payment—Setting an impossible goal so that it fail and then be privatized.

Tor and the Silk Road

• How the feds took down the Dread Pirate Roberts
• NSA and GCHQ target Tor network that protects anonymity of web users
• 'Tor Stinks' presentation—"Top-secret presentation says 'We will never be able to de-anonymize all Tor users all the time' but 'with manual ana+lysis we can de-anonymize a very small fraction of Tor users.'"
• Silk Road underground market closed – but others will replace it—"The high profile 'dark web' drugstore has been shut down, leaving room for a plethora of copycats and rivals."
• Security Flaw Shows Tor Anonymity Network Dominated by Botnet Command and Control Traffic

Spying and Surveillance

• Schneier: Why the NSA's attacks on the internet must be made public—"By reporting on the agency's actions, the vulnerabilities in our computer systems can be fixed. It's the only way to force change."
• What Happened to Obama's NSA Reforms?—"Two months ago, the President embraced limited reforms to domestic spying. So far, he's produced limited results."
• Sen. Feinstein Claims The NSA Does Collect Phone Call Location Information, Contradicting The NSA
• DOJ's non-ironic arguments rejecting Google, Facebook user data transparency requests
• GCHQ report on 'MULLENIZE' program to 'stain' anonymous electronic traffic