No Xbox for Republicans
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Vol.2, No. 285
Shutdown: Day 9. President Obama yesterday said he will not negotiate with the Republicans until they agree to re-open the government and raise the national debt ceiling. “You don’t get a chance to call your bank and say I’m not going to pay my mortgage this month unless you throw in a new car and an Xbox,” Obama said near the opening of a long press conference. The President said congress has a constitutional obligation to fund the government and its debts.
Some Republicans were encouraged that the President said he would agree to re-open the government and raise the debt ceiling for a period of time while other negotiations go on. But House Speaker John Boehner said later, “What the president said today was, if there is unconditional surrender by Republicans, he’ll sit down and talk to us. That’s not the way our government works.”
The Fallout: The government shutdown has stopped the payment of the $100,000 death benefit to families of soldiers killed in war. At least 21 spouses or families have been denied the check so far.
- The three Antarctic research stations are being put on ice for the season for lack of money during the shutdown. About 1200 researchers usually spend the Antarctic spring and summer studying everything from astronomy to particle physics and climate change.
Next Chair Over: President Obama has picked Janet Yellen, the vice chair of the Federal Reserve, to replace Ben Bernanke in the top job. Yellen, 67, would be the first woman to hold the position. She became first choice after former Harvard president Lawrence Summers removed himself from consideration.
Allowance Cutoff: The US is on the brink of suspending most military aid to Egypt, according to a report from the Reuters news agency. That would include all aid not going directly to fighting extremists. The administration declined to publicly confirm the report with a statement splitting hairs about not suspending “all” aid, but leaving the door open to withholding most of it. If the US does nothing, it’s a tacit endorsement of the overthrow of Egypt’s freely elected President Muhammed Morsi.
Uncovered: An undercover NY City detective who was one of the motorcycle riders that chased an SUV up the West Side of Manhattan has been arrested for his involvement in the incident. Wojciech Braszczok, 32, who was off duty that Sunday, took several days before telling the department he was there. Police say Braszczok told investigators that he did not participate in the attack on the car and driver when it reached Washington Heights, but they say videotape shows him pounding on the car’s windows.
Type 2: Actor Tom Hanks revealed on The Late Show that his chronic high blood sugar has turned into Type 2 diabetes. Hanks said his doctor told him that if he could reduce his weight to what it was in high school the diabetes would go away. He said that would be impossible because he weighed 96 pounds in high school and, “Most of it was that big, wide afro.”
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