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Hello everyone. Hope you’re doing well, I am eating a fresh batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I made over the weekend.

Government Shutdown, Day 8

– Good news (or bad news), there are votes that can officially end the shutdown. Problem is, politics.

– Live blog of Day 8 of the shutdown because why not!

– Obama: “We can’t make extortion routine as part of our democracy.” John Boehner strikes back by saying Obama wants Republicans to “surrender”

– Long list of what Obama compared Republicans to.

– While the government is shutdown, members of Congress have their private gyms open at the cost of us. “A House aide confirmed to ThinkProgress that the House member’s gym is open. The House gym features a swimming pool, basketball courts, paddleball courts, a sauna, a steam room and flat screen TVs. While towel service is unavailable, taxpayers remain on the hook for cleaning and maintenance, which has been performed daily throughout the shutdown. There are also costs associated with the power required to heat the pools and keep the lights on.”

– The families of soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan are not longer getting money.

– Currencies are getting more volatile as shutdown continues.

– Stephen Colbert gives a perfect analogy of the shutdown on its one week anniversary. Jon Stewart too.

International Developments

– “Ban Ki-Moon says team of up to 100 will be entering warzones to do job that would be difficult even in peacetime” Kerry says things going well, but Lavrov states that rebels should cooperate. 

– How the US is embarrassing itself with the “symbolism of the newest floating prison” 

– Asylum requests for the EU have increased by 50%.

– South Korea has stated North Korea restarted a plutonium reactor.

– NOT AGAIN! Factory fire in Bangladesh kills at least 10 garment workers.

– Afghanistan’s Karzai: Foreign western powers are seeking the right to “continue to attack our people and our villages'”

– Prime Minister of Libya states the raid on al-Qaeda won’t hurt relations between US and Libya. Geneva concerns are being raised at the moment.

– “Latin American leaders are reclaiming a right to differentiate their views from Washington’s—and refusing to render it diplomatic tribute.”

– A former Golden Dawn member states they will enter “Parliament with tanks” and trained with other members by slaughtering “sheep to learn how to stab in the neck” This is a political party? It’s just a terrorist group that needs to be rounded up and jailed.

– “Court hands out jail sentences totalling 178 years to former Pasok defence minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, his wife, his daughter and 14 others to approve the purchase of Russian TOR-M1 short-range missiles”

– More austerity and tax hikes expected in 2014 in Greece.

Financial Matters

– Dean Baker on “Smart People, Stupid People, and Budget Politics” and “CBS News 60 Minutes Joins the Disability Bashing Bandwagon”

– President Obama is set to announce Janet Yellen as new chairman of the Federal Reserve.

– The World Bank is saying Israeli occupation is costing Palestinian economy “billions of dollars”

– Jury selection occurs for the Bernie Madoff case right now.

– The IMF has raised the growth forecast for the UK.

– Goldman Sachs has bought 50 percent of a British motor insurer

Labor’s a Brewing

– “What happened?” asked young autoworkers to older workers.

– “12 Warning Signs You’ll Get Overworked and Underpaid by an Employer”

– “No Matter What Happens, it’s the Union’s Fault”

– Boston school bus workers are striking and the city is caught by surprised as they are protesting over their contract. I hope they win, they deserve it.

Surveillance Planet

– NSA, those folks you know who have unlimited power over your data, aren’t able to stop a little electrical problem. Doesn’t that make you feel safe? To make it better, they’ve faced 10 meltdowns int he past 13 months.

– “The Other Things the Government Is Hiding from Dzhokhar’s Lawyers”

– Emptywheel on the “FBI’s Official ‘CAIR Has Cooties'”  

– New York City is denying that a “well-documented” spying program exists on Muslims.

– Head of MI5 Security Service states that Snowden’s “secrets” are a “gift to terrorists”

– After discovered that Canada has been spying on Brazil, Brazil has demanded Canada explain itself. Glenn Greenwald states that this is the “tip of the iceberg”

Politics USA

– We live in the Grand Ol’ USA. Where we send soldiers to fight overseas and arrest them when they come back. Just shameful, I’ve given up living in this society.

– What’s the difference between our police and our military? … No seriously, what is it? 

– “Two police officers shot and killed 43-year-old Jack Roberson on Friday afternoon, and his family is disputing law enforcement’s side of the story.”

– Noam Chomsky: “The recent Obama-Putin tiff over American exceptionalism reignited an ongoing debate over the Obama Doctrine: Is the president veering toward isolationism? Or will he proudly carry the banner of exceptionalism?”

– Something new (or not): “Is Sean Hannity America’s #1 Racist?”

– “If we are to face what lies ahead, we will not only have to organize and feed ourselves, we will have to begin to feel deeply, to face unpleasant truths.”

– Stephen Colbert’s hilarious analysis of two Supreme Court cases.

– “The IRS has granted nonprofit status to America Is Not Stupid 2013 a so-called dark money group best known for a 2012 election ad featuring a talking baby who compared the smell of his diaper with a Montana senator.”

– Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA): “I’m a medical doctor” and Obamacare will “destroy everything we know.” What a coincidence! I’m an astronaut and I believe there are mole-men inside of the Earth.

– Fox News host Brian Kilmeade is disappointed murder did not happen with SEALs’ operation in Somalia.

– Alleged human beings in the California Republican Party are seeking to repeal laws protecting transgender youth in 2014 election.

– More and more newspapers are cutting the opinion section of their paper. 

– “A US federal judge has reinstated a CIA cloud computing contract with Amazon, rejecting a challenge from IBM, according to court documents released Tuesday.”

– “Montana’s Northern Cheyenne tribe fighting to secure voting rights”

– Eight Rep. Democrats have been arrested at a D.C. Immigration Rally

We Don’t Need No Education

– “A charter chain gets caught offering parents money to draw in students — and quickly walks back the offer.”

– In San Francisco, people are fighting back against an order banning chess by playing chess. More power to them.

Health, Hunger and Homelessness

– Stand up, fight back against the chicken industry. They will not get away with anything anymore.

– Profiting off the poor or “outsourcing social services”

– Parents find child care more meaningful than paid work, but tiring. 

The War on Women

– The women “who broke all the rules in Nepal”

– Study states women aren’t living as long as they used to

– A new gender inequality index shows women far behind than men in Israel

Planet Earth

– “Idle No More protesters assert treaty rights and nationhood as part of International Day of Action”

– “Alex Rogers: Without swift action to tackle climate change, pollution and other threats, marine species could face mass extinction” Developing countries, as well, more threatened by climate change than developed countries who hold the ball in all of this. Isn’t that grand?

– Because of new regulations, Chevron have abandoned their bid for Lithuania’s shale gas.

– In order to combat poachers in Tanzania, there is a suggestion of a “shoot-to-kill” law on those who do poach tusks by elephants.

– Koch Industries have bought a Texas natural gas power plant.

Mixed Bag

– Catch the trailer for Santorum-produced movie on Christmas that is the “true, real Christmas.” That’s right! Arrogance is included!

– “NYPD Lets Suspicious Man Go After Only Finding ‘Catcher In The Rye’ In Backpack”

– “Congressional Aides Withholding Sex Until Budget Compromise Is Reached”

– “British scientist Peter Higgs said he was ‘overwhelmed’ after he and his Belgian colleague Francois Englert were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their work on the Higgs Boson particle.”

Break Time

– Barracuda