On day 14 of the government shutdown, the president visits and volunteers with those suffering on behalf of the GOP’s manufactured, partisan and entirely unnecessary crisis.
If you’ve read the news at all this summer, you’d know that fast food workers–especially those in New York–are pretty pissed off. And rightly so. McDonalds recently drew scorn for its proposed employee budget, which suggested that full-time employees take a second job–yes, a second job–to keep up with their living expenses. Fast food workers took to the streets to wage their protest, and it’s precisely there that famed artist Banksy has shown his support. The installation features a real boy–dirty, barefoot and overworked–shining the oversized shoes of a rather cold, imposing Ronald McDonald. Says Banksy, it’s a “critique of heavy labor required to sustain the polished image of a mega-corporation”. We can dig it.
The Article: Taliban mocks U.S. government shutdown in USA Today.
The Text: Even the Taliban is mocking the federal government shutdown.
The terrorist group that is fighting U.S. troops to return to power in Afghanistan accused politicians of “sucking the blood of their own people,” reported Agence France-Presse and Al-Arabiya news service.
“The American people should realize that their politicians play with their destinies as well as the destinies of other oppressed nations for the sake of their personal vested interests,” said the statement issued by the Taliban.
Pay no mind to the fact that if we simply raised the social security payroll tax cap–or eliminated it entirely–we’d be injecting some fairness and eternal solvency into the program. Oh, and the best part? Only 1 in 20 workers would be affected. Too bad they’re the wealthiest, otherwise this move would be a no-brainer.
The Article: What Moderate Republicans? by Andrew Sullivan in The Dish.
The Text: Barro believes they’re all talk:
If you look at members’ actions and votes instead of their statements, the number of Republicans in the House who favor a clean CR and oppose the Cruz-driven strategy of shutdown and hostage-taking is not 21. It’s 0. The entire House Republican caucus is responsible for its shutdown-based legislative strategy. The only difference among the members is that Tea Party conservatives have the decency to admit what they’re up to.
Elias Isquith piles on:
If [Peter] King were half the maverick the media’s made him out to be, he’d have more to show for himself than a handful of headlines from liberal outlets cheering at the sight of internal GOP dysfunction. He’d have some votes to back it up. But as Brian Beutler has demonstrated, tangible evidence of real opposition to the Tea Party order is exactly what Peter King lacks. At nearly every critical juncture, at almost every moment when he could’ve taken a stand against his party’s recklessness, Peter King did exactly nothing. Take away the media spotlight, the salacious pull-quote, and the hard-eyed glare. Leave the legislative record — both before and during the shutdown crisis. Stop and take a gander at what’s left to see. You’ll find one procedural vote of dissent: little to look at, much less to praise.
