The Roundup for October 16th, 2013

16 Oct 2013

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Good day folks. Hope you are well today. Apologies for the delays, it’s crunch time this week.

Government Shutdown, Day 16

– Just one day until the government defaults…

– However, voting will soon begin to extend debt ceiling until February, open the government until January and allow a bipartisan group of individuals on some sort of deal.

– Senate passes bill 81 to 18 as it goes to the House now

– Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham: “Well, everybody knows that we’re not going to be able to repeal this [Obamacare] law until 2017, and that we have to win the Senate and win the White House.” This occurs when less than sixty seconds earlier he stated this shutdown was to repeal Obamacare.

– North Carolina is the first state to cut off welfare to families in need

– Throwing a wretch in our justice system

– John McCain: “Republicans have to understand we have lost this battle”

– Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC): “We lost. That’s it.”

– Boehner admits defeat.

– “Calling the busted cylinder a national hero, sources confirmed Wednesday that a sewer pipe in the U.S. Capitol building valiantly burst open, pouring more than 1.5 million gallons of raw sewage into Congress and flooding the Senate and House of Representatives with human excrement, sludge, and wastewater.”

International Politics

– 21 people have been killed in Syria in a minibus explosion.

– “A bomb has ripped through a crowd of Sunni worshippers coming out of a mosque in northern Iraq after prayers at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, killing 12 people and wounding 24, a police official has said.”

– “World powers and Iran have had “their most detailed talks ever” on Iran’s nuclear programme, the EU’s top foreign policy official Catherine Ashton says.”

– Iran is hinting at giving “significant concessions” in the discussions.

– “In addition to ten pistols, police find Nazi flags, military uniforms, statutes, Hitler portraits, Nazi helmets, swastikas and other items in a specially designed room in fugitive Greek businessman Anasatios Pallis’ villa”

– A probe is being called into Golden Dawn’s relationship with the police & secret service as Parliament strips six Golden Dawn MPs of their immunity

– “Thirteen people to face charges of breaching the peace after the dawn raid by riot police, ending a 40-day sit-in at the regional government offices in Halkida, [Greece]”

– Great to hear. Shouldn’t rest at all in peace. “The funeral in Italy of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke has been called off amid clashes outside the church between sympathisers and anti-fascist protesters.”

– “A provincial law minister and at least seven other people have been killed in a bombing in north-west Pakistan during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.”

– “Wearing black clothing, scarves and ski masks, so-called “Black Bloc” anarchists have taken a starring role in Brazil’s social unrest, using violent tactics to target symbols of capitalism.”

Financial Matters

– An increase of 1.5 to 1.6 percent in COLA in Social Security is what seniors should expect next year

– The five reasons why prioritizing growth is bad policy

– Homebuilders’ confidence at a four-month low

– Mark Cuban has been found not guilty by a Texas jury on charges of insider trading

– The standard of living index has been lowered to a 10-month low

Surveillance Planet

– NSA director Keith Alexander to leave early next year

– Neo-McCarthyism: British MPs are set to investigate the Guardian “as part of inquiry of counter-terrorism”

– David Cameron, meanwhile, has called to investigate the Guardian

– Former Labour minister has stated spies did not go to MPs over surveillance

– Emptywheel: “NSA Silenced Our Rendition”

– Father of Snowden states Snowden has more secrets to share

Labor’s a-Brewing

– Haiti’s factories are unsafe, says one labor group

– “About one-fifth of the gold exported from Peru is illegally mined, with forced labor extracting much of the precious metal that ends up in cellphones, computers and jewelry, according to US nonprofit Verité“; So where does the US come in? Profits.

– US labor is losing its edge in skills

Politics USA

– “Gladiator School“, that’s what one private prison is called in a lawsuit

– Police in one town lure drug dealers, set up stings, bust them and then profit.

– The Houston Chronicle has regretted its endorsement of Sen. Ted Cruz.

– The GOP’s true leader is not John Boehner, but Jim DeMint

– Report: You live in an embarrassing country

– “Sorry, libertarians: You’re still hypocrites”

– The real mainstream bias

– “Here’s why Healthcare.gov broke down”

– “Cops in chase that killed unarmed black couple will keep jobs”

– Pew: 49% of Americans view Tea Party “unfavorably”, up 5%

– 12 trends that shape digital news

– Nearly 4 in 10 voters do not want to see their lawmakers re-elected

– Nation could probably draw Boehner from memory at this point

– “Cory Booker: The Second Coming of Obama — Only Worse”

– De Blasio is going to win, only delusion right-wing neo-fascists would say no (I read a Facebook comment from a right-winger on de Blasio so forgive me): “De Blasio Wins Debate; GOP Wants Him as Their False Equivalency Voodoo Doll”

– “Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, has revealed more details of the media organization he is creating with journalist Glenn Greenwald.”

– Economist Richard Wolff talking about the Tea Party

– “Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, told conservative radio host Janet Mefferd during her program Tuesday that there was no biblical basis for the government having a role in helping the poor”

– Study: 30 million+ people live in “modern-day slavery”

Health, Homelessness and Hunger

– A homeless man learning computer programming has been arrested for sleeping in public

– Until the feds get in order, “be wary of chicken”

– Obama’s health target: 500,000 by Oct. 31st

The War on Women

– Lt. Governor of Missouri tells Maryville authorities to “take another look” at rape case.

– How US mothers are the new breadwinners

– “What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape”