By Eliot Nelson & Arthur Delaney
We're another day closer to a government shutdown and another day closer to every news outlet running the same graphic of a "CLOSED" sign hanging around the Capitol. The government released data about health care costs under Obamacare but didn't specify whether paying for a death panel with an installment plan constitutes insurance fraud. And Mayor Vincent Gray vowed to keep all of D.C.'s services up and running during a government shutdown, because who else will tell the kids that fake weed + u = zombie? This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, September 25th, 2013:
HOUSE UNLIKELY TO GUT OBAMACARE IN NEXT CR Sam Stein: "Republican aides in both chambers feel that Boehner's hand has been strengthened by Cruz's inability to move the debate in the Senate. But they caution that Reid could still gum up any House plans by keeping Senate Democrats united. That's why four separate senior aides from both chambers say they would be very surprised if Boehner turned around and tried to craft another short-term continuing resolution that sought major changes to the president's health care law. On Tuesday night, reports emerged that House Republicans were considering adding a one-year delay to the law's individual mandate in their next legislative offer. But sources on the Hill quickly put a stop to the suggestions. One top GOP aide said putting that provision into the next draft of a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government was not 'at all likely' in part because the party has already decided to make a delay to the mandate a part of their proposal for lifting the debt ceiling in mid-October. A Senate Republican aide echoed that theory. When asked whether the party would touch Obamacare during the next CR debate, the aide responded, 'I seriously doubt it.'" [HuffPost]
PELOSI URGES PRESIDENT (AGAIN) TO INVOKE THE 14TH AMENDMENT - The president should mint his response on a coin, just to be cheeky. "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is breathing new life into a previously floated idea for resolving risky congressional fights over raising the government's borrowing limit: the 14th Amendment. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Pelosi said President Barack Obama may not like the idea, but she thinks it's within his constitutional authority to raise the debt ceiling himself...'I think the 14th Amendment covers it,' said Pelosi. 'The president and I have a disagreement in that regard..' In past fights over raising the debt ceiling -- when things got to the 11th hour -- Pelosi and other Democrats urged Obama to bypass Congress and raise the limit on his own. They point to Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which states: 'The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.'...Obama routinely brushes off the idea and says it's up to Congress to address the matter." [HuffPost]
DISTRICT SAYS NO THANKS TO SHUTDOWN - The District of Columbia won't play along with a government shutdown if Congress fails to pass a basic spending bill by Monday night, Mayor Vince Gray (D) announced Wednesday. Congress oversees the District's budget, so local leaders are typically beholden to federal lawmakers in the budgeting process. If the federal government shuts down, non-essential city services have to shut down, too -- but not under Gray's watch, apparently. "I have determined that everything the District government does -- protecting the health, safety and welfare of our residents and visitors -- is essential," Gray said in a press release. [HuffPost]
NSA REFORM BILL UNVEILED BY SENATORS - But don't let this keep you from your second-day story comparing Wendy Davis and Ted Cruz. Matt Sledge: "A bipartisan group of senators announced a comprehensive surveillance reform bill on Wednesday, but their effort may encounter resistance from the powerful Intelligence Committee chairwoman, who steadfastly supports the National Security Agency. The legislation 'expresses our bipartisan view of what Congress must do to enact real, not cosmetic, intelligence reform,' said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Intelligence Committee. 'The disclosures over the last hundred days have caused a sea change in the way the public views the surveillance system.' Wyden was joined by fellow committee member Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). The senators said that their bill, whose full text was not immediately available, would end bulk collection of Americans' phone records, close a loophole that allows the NSA to conduct 'backdoor searches' of Americans' communications without a warrant, and create a 'constitutional advocate' to argue against the government before the secretive court that oversees foreign surveillance." [HuffPost]
WHY WON'T STEVE SOUTHERLAND AND JIM MCGOVERN HAVE COFFEE? That's the question posed by Eli Saslow in his latest Washington Post feature, this one about Southerland's quest to cut food stamps. In the story Southerland explains to his daughter that there was only one other member of Congress as knowledgeable about food stamps. "He told her about a Massachusetts liberal named Jim McGovern, who had been giving a speech about hunger on the House floor each week. McGovern had rallied the Democrats against Southerland's proposal. Out of 435 people in the House, he was the only one who had studied food stamps just as hard and who seemed to care just as much. 'What does he say about all of this to you?' his daughter asked. 'I don't know,' Southerland said. 'I haven't talked to him.' 'What?' she said. 'Seriously? Never? That doesn't make sense.' She knew her dad as a conciliator who valued mentoring young men at church, yearly hunting trips with his three siblings and funeral director retreats to the mountains…. 'Can't you ask him to coffee?' she asked. 'You could work together.'" [WashPost]
Here's one reason they don't talk: For all his supposed passion about food stamps, Southerland quit the agriculture committee earlier this year.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - "About 80,000 jobless Californians have been cut off from unemployment benefits because of a computer glitch that could take weeks to resolve. The Employment Development Department upgraded its 30-year-old system over Labor Day weekend with the aim of streamlining benefits processing. But the new system malfunctioned, forcing state workers to approve payments manually. That has created a massive backlog snaring 15% of claims filed since Sept. 1." [LATimes]
UPSIDE DOWNER - Meet Kyle Abraham, the MacArthur Fellow three years removed from food stamps. "The thing about government assistance is, you don't want to need it. You want to be able to do for yourself however you can," he said. [HuffPost]
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
GOP DEBT CEILING PLAN TO INCLUDE WALL STREET, COAL GIVEAWAYS - Luke Johnson and Zach Carter: "House Republicans plan to demand major perks for coal companies and Wall Street banks, alongside healthcare and social service cuts and a one-year delay in the implementation of Obamacare, in exchange for raising the debt ceiling until the end of 2014, according to a source close to the House GOP leadership...Coal and oil companies would benefit from provisions to expand offshore drilling and drilling on federal lands. The proposal blocks the federal government from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and coal ash, and would give Congress the power to veto any 'major' regulation issued by a federal agency (because an affirmative vote would be required, Congress could void new rules simply through inaction). In addition, the document claims $23 billion in budget savings from a provision to 'Eliminate Dodd-Frank Bailout Fund.' The money, however, is not legally permitted to support collapsing banks. Dodd-Frank established the fund to allow regulators to pay some creditors of large banks when they fail, in order to prevent a domino of failures akin to what occurred in 2008 when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Absent the fund, the government would have no effective way of limiting the economic damage from a bank's failure, increasing the likelihood that a bailout would be necessary." [HuffPost]
Two-minute warning: "The debt ceiling will be reached Oct. 17 and the Department of the Treasury will have less cash on hand than it previously estimated, said Secretary Jack Lew in a letter released Wednesday. 'Treasury now estimates that extraordinary measures will be exhausted no later than October 17. We estimate that, at that point, Treasury would have only approximately $30 billion to meet our country's commitments,' he said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). 'This amount would be far short of net expenditures on certain days, which can be as high as $60 billion.'" [HuffPost]
CRUZ FINISHES TALKATHON, VOTES FOR BUDGET DEBATE ANYWAY - The Texas senator's talkathon ended with a terse exchange over procedure with Harry Reid, reminding us that C-SPAN should adopt 1960s Batman-style graphics ("POW!" "BAM!" "PLOP!" "PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY!"). Sabrina Siddiqui and Mike McAuliff: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) ended his symbolic filibuster Wednesday as Senate rules forced him to stop talking. Senators then voted to push ahead with the bill to fund the government that the Texan and his allies had tried to stall all night long. Cruz quit at noon to a smattering of Republican applause, ceding the floor at the technical start of a new legislative day after holding forth for more than 21 hours. He could have spoken longer, but had to stop for good at 1 p.m. for a vote to proceed with debate on the spending bill. The Senate voted unanimously to do so, including Cruz...He resorted to many well-worn talking points against the health care law, and also sprinkled in the sorts of odd references that can crop up when someone talks for so long, reading Green Eggs and Ham to his daughters via C-Span, claiming that his dad invented that dish, and even channeling Darth Vader in response to a line from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)." [HuffPost]
Chuck Schumer reserves the right to object: "Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he couldn't believe his ears when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) read the Dr. Seuss classic Green Eggs and Ham aloud during his 21-hour talk-a-thon that kicked off Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor...'I was appalled,' the New York senator told reporters Wednesday. 'Green Eggs and Ham has a moral: Don't criticize something, don't reject something, until you actually try it. Sam said he didn't like green eggs and ham for a long time. And then when he finally tried it, he liked it.' 'Maybe Ted Cruz, once Obamacare occurred, might actually like it,' Schumer said, still shaking his head over the book. 'I don't know if he read it.'" [HuffPost]
GOVERNMENT RELEASES OBAMACARE PRICES - Jeff Young: "The average price for basic health coverage purchased on health insurance exchanges created by President Barack Obama's health care reform law will be $249 a month, not counting subsidies, in 48 states reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a government report published Wednesday... This latest analysis of what the health insurance plans will cost comes just six days before people will be able to find out what they'll actually pay...The figures released by the Department of Health and Human Services represent averages and prices will vary widely by geographic location as well as family size, age, tobacco use and income. Even the average price of a so-called bronze plan, designed to cover 60 percent of medical expenses not counting monthly premiums, masks big variation. The average price of the cheapest bronze plan in Minnesota is $144 while in Wyoming, comparable coverage costs $425 on average, not including subsides." [HuffPost]
NEWT GINGRICH'S PAC NOT FUNDING CAMPAIGNS - Maybe if more candidates spoke out about moon bases and/or rare animals, Newt would be more generous. Mother Jones: "On September 10—hours before President Barack Obama delivered a primetime White House speech on Syria—former House speaker Newt Gingrich... circulated a dire fundraising email on behalf of the American Legacy Political Action Committee, which he and his wife, Callista, founded and now serve as honorary co-chairs...There was one problem with this pitch: American Legacy was doing little, if anything, to oppose possible military intervention against Syria. The PAC's website notes that it exists to support federal candidates who share conservative values. The money raised by this email would not directly finance organizing aimed at thwarting Obama's plan. And there was another problem: This PAC, founded in 2010 and fronted by Gingrich, bags a lot of money from conservative donors, but little of this cash reaches candidates. During the 2012 election cycle, the group took in $515,321—most of it from donors contributing less than $200—and it doled out a measly $9,000 to seven Republican candidates, including Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel, Virginia Senate candidate George Allen, and Gingrich himself." [MoJo]
Here is a thing: "NSFW: Cory Booker's Interesting DMs With A Portland Stripper"
KERRY SIGNS INTERNATIONAL ARMS TREATY, SO OBAMA IS CLEARLY COMING FOR YOUR GUNS - That sound you hear is Alex Jones furiously and repeatedly scribbling the terms "Agenda 21" and "Bilderberg" onto a wall somewhere. Christina Wilkie: "The latest front in the Senate battle over gun control opened Wednesday, as Secretary of State John Kerry signed the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty in New York. The treaty establishes standards for the global trade in conventional weapons, with the goal of preventing such weapons from being sold to those who would use them to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In the United States, however, the ATT has been the target of fierce opposition from the gun rights lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, which claims the treaty violates the Second Amendment rights of gun owners...'This treaty threatens individual firearm ownership with an invasive registration scheme,' said top NRA lobbyist Chris Cox in a statement on Wednesday." [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some baby pandas in a crib.
LAISSEZ LES CRAPPY TEMPS ROULER! - A new study finds Louisiana to be the "worst state for women," which is surprising from a state known for a festival with a plastic beads-for-breasts barter system. Laura Bassett: "[T]he worst state for women by far is Louisiana, according to astate-by-state examination of these issues released Wednesday by the Center for American Progress. In terms of economic security, health and leadership representation, the analysis rates Louisiana the lowest. Full-time working women in Louisiana earn only 67 percent of what men earn, on average, and more than one in five women and girls in Louisiana are currently living in poverty. Only 12 percent of Louisiana's congressional seats are held by women, and the state has one of the top 10 worst maternal mortality rates in the country. There is only one OB-GYN for every 13,136 women in Louisiana, and nearly 20 percent of non-elderly women in the state are uninsured. Louisiana also requires an ultrasound, waiting period and counseling session before a woman can have an abortion. The report also considered in its ratings the state's minimum wage, family leave policies, percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in pre-K, the gender management gap and publicly funded contraceptive services. Other states that earned an "F" overall in these categories are Utah, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, South Dakota, Indiana and Georgia." [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- "Pulp Fiction," told through animation (and in Russian, sadly) in 60 seconds. [http://bit.ly/15qKm1b]
- Hamster gets in horrific car crash. [http://huff.to/19040kT]
- "Mac Story," a parody of "Toy Story" starring Apple products... gloriously free of Tim Allen. [http://bit.ly/18Wt3Lx]
- Stephen Hawking's theories of the universe, animated. [http://bit.ly/19EFZkj]
- Baboon ruins local news broadcast. [http://huff.to/15Uc0at]
- Beard bowls are the next stage in male evolution. [http://bit.ly/156xdPP]
- Samurai monkey moves like the wind. [http://bit.ly/190onOI]
TWITTERAMA
@HuffPostMedia: Every Oscar winner now watching jealously as Ted Cruz thanks a million people and doesn't get played off by music.
@BenjySarlin: Some advice for Ted Cruz on the 24 hour fast: bagel spread.
@rebeccaberg: So...countdown to a Marco Rubio filibuster starts now?
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com), Ryan Grim (ryan@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e
HOUSE UNLIKELY TO GUT OBAMACARE IN NEXT CR Sam Stein: "Republican aides in both chambers feel that Boehner's hand has been strengthened by Cruz's inability to move the debate in the Senate. But they caution that Reid could still gum up any House plans by keeping Senate Democrats united. That's why four separate senior aides from both chambers say they would be very surprised if Boehner turned around and tried to craft another short-term continuing resolution that sought major changes to the president's health care law. On Tuesday night, reports emerged that House Republicans were considering adding a one-year delay to the law's individual mandate in their next legislative offer. But sources on the Hill quickly put a stop to the suggestions. One top GOP aide said putting that provision into the next draft of a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government was not 'at all likely' in part because the party has already decided to make a delay to the mandate a part of their proposal for lifting the debt ceiling in mid-October. A Senate Republican aide echoed that theory. When asked whether the party would touch Obamacare during the next CR debate, the aide responded, 'I seriously doubt it.'" [HuffPost]
PELOSI URGES PRESIDENT (AGAIN) TO INVOKE THE 14TH AMENDMENT - The president should mint his response on a coin, just to be cheeky. "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is breathing new life into a previously floated idea for resolving risky congressional fights over raising the government's borrowing limit: the 14th Amendment. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Pelosi said President Barack Obama may not like the idea, but she thinks it's within his constitutional authority to raise the debt ceiling himself...'I think the 14th Amendment covers it,' said Pelosi. 'The president and I have a disagreement in that regard..' In past fights over raising the debt ceiling -- when things got to the 11th hour -- Pelosi and other Democrats urged Obama to bypass Congress and raise the limit on his own. They point to Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which states: 'The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.'...Obama routinely brushes off the idea and says it's up to Congress to address the matter." [HuffPost]
DISTRICT SAYS NO THANKS TO SHUTDOWN - The District of Columbia won't play along with a government shutdown if Congress fails to pass a basic spending bill by Monday night, Mayor Vince Gray (D) announced Wednesday. Congress oversees the District's budget, so local leaders are typically beholden to federal lawmakers in the budgeting process. If the federal government shuts down, non-essential city services have to shut down, too -- but not under Gray's watch, apparently. "I have determined that everything the District government does -- protecting the health, safety and welfare of our residents and visitors -- is essential," Gray said in a press release. [HuffPost]
NSA REFORM BILL UNVEILED BY SENATORS - But don't let this keep you from your second-day story comparing Wendy Davis and Ted Cruz. Matt Sledge: "A bipartisan group of senators announced a comprehensive surveillance reform bill on Wednesday, but their effort may encounter resistance from the powerful Intelligence Committee chairwoman, who steadfastly supports the National Security Agency. The legislation 'expresses our bipartisan view of what Congress must do to enact real, not cosmetic, intelligence reform,' said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Intelligence Committee. 'The disclosures over the last hundred days have caused a sea change in the way the public views the surveillance system.' Wyden was joined by fellow committee member Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). The senators said that their bill, whose full text was not immediately available, would end bulk collection of Americans' phone records, close a loophole that allows the NSA to conduct 'backdoor searches' of Americans' communications without a warrant, and create a 'constitutional advocate' to argue against the government before the secretive court that oversees foreign surveillance." [HuffPost]
WHY WON'T STEVE SOUTHERLAND AND JIM MCGOVERN HAVE COFFEE? That's the question posed by Eli Saslow in his latest Washington Post feature, this one about Southerland's quest to cut food stamps. In the story Southerland explains to his daughter that there was only one other member of Congress as knowledgeable about food stamps. "He told her about a Massachusetts liberal named Jim McGovern, who had been giving a speech about hunger on the House floor each week. McGovern had rallied the Democrats against Southerland's proposal. Out of 435 people in the House, he was the only one who had studied food stamps just as hard and who seemed to care just as much. 'What does he say about all of this to you?' his daughter asked. 'I don't know,' Southerland said. 'I haven't talked to him.' 'What?' she said. 'Seriously? Never? That doesn't make sense.' She knew her dad as a conciliator who valued mentoring young men at church, yearly hunting trips with his three siblings and funeral director retreats to the mountains…. 'Can't you ask him to coffee?' she asked. 'You could work together.'" [WashPost]
Here's one reason they don't talk: For all his supposed passion about food stamps, Southerland quit the agriculture committee earlier this year.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - "About 80,000 jobless Californians have been cut off from unemployment benefits because of a computer glitch that could take weeks to resolve. The Employment Development Department upgraded its 30-year-old system over Labor Day weekend with the aim of streamlining benefits processing. But the new system malfunctioned, forcing state workers to approve payments manually. That has created a massive backlog snaring 15% of claims filed since Sept. 1." [LATimes]
UPSIDE DOWNER - Meet Kyle Abraham, the MacArthur Fellow three years removed from food stamps. "The thing about government assistance is, you don't want to need it. You want to be able to do for yourself however you can," he said. [HuffPost]
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
GOP DEBT CEILING PLAN TO INCLUDE WALL STREET, COAL GIVEAWAYS - Luke Johnson and Zach Carter: "House Republicans plan to demand major perks for coal companies and Wall Street banks, alongside healthcare and social service cuts and a one-year delay in the implementation of Obamacare, in exchange for raising the debt ceiling until the end of 2014, according to a source close to the House GOP leadership...Coal and oil companies would benefit from provisions to expand offshore drilling and drilling on federal lands. The proposal blocks the federal government from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and coal ash, and would give Congress the power to veto any 'major' regulation issued by a federal agency (because an affirmative vote would be required, Congress could void new rules simply through inaction). In addition, the document claims $23 billion in budget savings from a provision to 'Eliminate Dodd-Frank Bailout Fund.' The money, however, is not legally permitted to support collapsing banks. Dodd-Frank established the fund to allow regulators to pay some creditors of large banks when they fail, in order to prevent a domino of failures akin to what occurred in 2008 when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. Absent the fund, the government would have no effective way of limiting the economic damage from a bank's failure, increasing the likelihood that a bailout would be necessary." [HuffPost]
Two-minute warning: "The debt ceiling will be reached Oct. 17 and the Department of the Treasury will have less cash on hand than it previously estimated, said Secretary Jack Lew in a letter released Wednesday. 'Treasury now estimates that extraordinary measures will be exhausted no later than October 17. We estimate that, at that point, Treasury would have only approximately $30 billion to meet our country's commitments,' he said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). 'This amount would be far short of net expenditures on certain days, which can be as high as $60 billion.'" [HuffPost]
CRUZ FINISHES TALKATHON, VOTES FOR BUDGET DEBATE ANYWAY - The Texas senator's talkathon ended with a terse exchange over procedure with Harry Reid, reminding us that C-SPAN should adopt 1960s Batman-style graphics ("POW!" "BAM!" "PLOP!" "PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY!"). Sabrina Siddiqui and Mike McAuliff: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) ended his symbolic filibuster Wednesday as Senate rules forced him to stop talking. Senators then voted to push ahead with the bill to fund the government that the Texan and his allies had tried to stall all night long. Cruz quit at noon to a smattering of Republican applause, ceding the floor at the technical start of a new legislative day after holding forth for more than 21 hours. He could have spoken longer, but had to stop for good at 1 p.m. for a vote to proceed with debate on the spending bill. The Senate voted unanimously to do so, including Cruz...He resorted to many well-worn talking points against the health care law, and also sprinkled in the sorts of odd references that can crop up when someone talks for so long, reading Green Eggs and Ham to his daughters via C-Span, claiming that his dad invented that dish, and even channeling Darth Vader in response to a line from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)." [HuffPost]
Chuck Schumer reserves the right to object: "Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he couldn't believe his ears when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) read the Dr. Seuss classic Green Eggs and Ham aloud during his 21-hour talk-a-thon that kicked off Tuesday afternoon on the Senate floor...'I was appalled,' the New York senator told reporters Wednesday. 'Green Eggs and Ham has a moral: Don't criticize something, don't reject something, until you actually try it. Sam said he didn't like green eggs and ham for a long time. And then when he finally tried it, he liked it.' 'Maybe Ted Cruz, once Obamacare occurred, might actually like it,' Schumer said, still shaking his head over the book. 'I don't know if he read it.'" [HuffPost]
GOVERNMENT RELEASES OBAMACARE PRICES - Jeff Young: "The average price for basic health coverage purchased on health insurance exchanges created by President Barack Obama's health care reform law will be $249 a month, not counting subsidies, in 48 states reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a government report published Wednesday... This latest analysis of what the health insurance plans will cost comes just six days before people will be able to find out what they'll actually pay...The figures released by the Department of Health and Human Services represent averages and prices will vary widely by geographic location as well as family size, age, tobacco use and income. Even the average price of a so-called bronze plan, designed to cover 60 percent of medical expenses not counting monthly premiums, masks big variation. The average price of the cheapest bronze plan in Minnesota is $144 while in Wyoming, comparable coverage costs $425 on average, not including subsides." [HuffPost]
NEWT GINGRICH'S PAC NOT FUNDING CAMPAIGNS - Maybe if more candidates spoke out about moon bases and/or rare animals, Newt would be more generous. Mother Jones: "On September 10—hours before President Barack Obama delivered a primetime White House speech on Syria—former House speaker Newt Gingrich... circulated a dire fundraising email on behalf of the American Legacy Political Action Committee, which he and his wife, Callista, founded and now serve as honorary co-chairs...There was one problem with this pitch: American Legacy was doing little, if anything, to oppose possible military intervention against Syria. The PAC's website notes that it exists to support federal candidates who share conservative values. The money raised by this email would not directly finance organizing aimed at thwarting Obama's plan. And there was another problem: This PAC, founded in 2010 and fronted by Gingrich, bags a lot of money from conservative donors, but little of this cash reaches candidates. During the 2012 election cycle, the group took in $515,321—most of it from donors contributing less than $200—and it doled out a measly $9,000 to seven Republican candidates, including Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel, Virginia Senate candidate George Allen, and Gingrich himself." [MoJo]
Here is a thing: "NSFW: Cory Booker's Interesting DMs With A Portland Stripper"
KERRY SIGNS INTERNATIONAL ARMS TREATY, SO OBAMA IS CLEARLY COMING FOR YOUR GUNS - That sound you hear is Alex Jones furiously and repeatedly scribbling the terms "Agenda 21" and "Bilderberg" onto a wall somewhere. Christina Wilkie: "The latest front in the Senate battle over gun control opened Wednesday, as Secretary of State John Kerry signed the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty in New York. The treaty establishes standards for the global trade in conventional weapons, with the goal of preventing such weapons from being sold to those who would use them to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In the United States, however, the ATT has been the target of fierce opposition from the gun rights lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, which claims the treaty violates the Second Amendment rights of gun owners...'This treaty threatens individual firearm ownership with an invasive registration scheme,' said top NRA lobbyist Chris Cox in a statement on Wednesday." [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some baby pandas in a crib.
LAISSEZ LES CRAPPY TEMPS ROULER! - A new study finds Louisiana to be the "worst state for women," which is surprising from a state known for a festival with a plastic beads-for-breasts barter system. Laura Bassett: "[T]he worst state for women by far is Louisiana, according to astate-by-state examination of these issues released Wednesday by the Center for American Progress. In terms of economic security, health and leadership representation, the analysis rates Louisiana the lowest. Full-time working women in Louisiana earn only 67 percent of what men earn, on average, and more than one in five women and girls in Louisiana are currently living in poverty. Only 12 percent of Louisiana's congressional seats are held by women, and the state has one of the top 10 worst maternal mortality rates in the country. There is only one OB-GYN for every 13,136 women in Louisiana, and nearly 20 percent of non-elderly women in the state are uninsured. Louisiana also requires an ultrasound, waiting period and counseling session before a woman can have an abortion. The report also considered in its ratings the state's minimum wage, family leave policies, percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in pre-K, the gender management gap and publicly funded contraceptive services. Other states that earned an "F" overall in these categories are Utah, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, South Dakota, Indiana and Georgia." [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- "Pulp Fiction," told through animation (and in Russian, sadly) in 60 seconds. [http://bit.ly/15qKm1b]
- Hamster gets in horrific car crash. [http://huff.to/19040kT]
- "Mac Story," a parody of "Toy Story" starring Apple products... gloriously free of Tim Allen. [http://bit.ly/18Wt3Lx]
- Stephen Hawking's theories of the universe, animated. [http://bit.ly/19EFZkj]
- Baboon ruins local news broadcast. [http://huff.to/15Uc0at]
- Beard bowls are the next stage in male evolution. [http://bit.ly/156xdPP]
- Samurai monkey moves like the wind. [http://bit.ly/190onOI]
TWITTERAMA
@HuffPostMedia: Every Oscar winner now watching jealously as Ted Cruz thanks a million people and doesn't get played off by music.
@BenjySarlin: Some advice for Ted Cruz on the 24 hour fast: bagel spread.
@rebeccaberg: So...countdown to a Marco Rubio filibuster starts now?
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com), Ryan Grim (ryan@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e
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