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On the pages of The Washington Post, columnist Kathleen Parker (who poses as a Republican) compared the Republican Party to a fictional mafia crime family and refers to Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz as "Ted bin Laden," an obvious reference to the Osama bin Laden, the Islamist terrorist responsible for the murder of thousands of Americans: In trying to understand the Republican Party’s internal battles, it helps to think of Michael and Sonny. Corleone, that is. … That would be Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who grabbed headlines by speaking for 21 hours against Obamacare. Cruz is neither Michael nor...

President Stompyfeet send essential govt employees to re-install barricades at WWII memorial https://twitter.com/DaveFox5DC/status/389720494737727488 …

After Republicans drifted for years without a pilot, Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have taken the helm of the GOP, steering their party and its grassroots into a much-needed, head-on battle with the Democrats. On the campaign trail on the way to his win in November 2012, President Barack Obama promised to finish the work he’d gone to Washington to do: “fundamentally transforming the United States.” Things look tough for the right in Washington today, but the reality is these three conservative Republicans, aided by friends in the Senate

WASHINGTON — Several Republican senators said Sunday a Democratic request to increase government spending is hurting chances of a deal to end the 13-day-old shutdown. Leaders of the Democratic-led Senate were dismissive of a proposal Saturday, in part, because it kept in place for too long the automatic spending cuts that went into effect earlier this year. Another round of those decade-long cuts -- dubbed the sequester and approved by Congress and the White House in 2011 -- is expected in January. The Republican complaints came as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke...

Columbus didn’t sail the Ocean Blue to discover a land where we wait around for Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid to decide the future of our lives. We decide. Not the power brokers in DC. We haven’t gone all this time and risked so much over two hundred years to turn the keys over now to others to run our lives. The Veterans on the Mall today don’t deserve a country the leaders of which play games with a memorial dedicated to them and their fallen brethren. Mitch McConnell is the single obstacle we have this week to taking our...

FOX NEWS ALERT! The barricades are back up!

MANSFIELD, LA (KSLA) - Shelves in Walmart stores in Springhill and Mansfield, LA were reportedly cleared Saturday night, when the stores allowed purchases on EBT cards even though they were not showing limits. Additional Links Computer issue, not government shutdown, likely cause of EBT card failures The chaos that followed ultimately required intervention from local police, and left behind numerous carts filled to overflowing, apparently abandoned when the glitch-spurred shopping frenzy ended. Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd confirms they were called in to help the employees at Walmart because there were so many people clearing off the shelves. He says...

[With video] Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert got into a tense back-and-forth Saturday with Fox New’s Arthel Neville over who is to blame for the partial government shut down and the frightening possibility of a debt-ceiling breach. The Republican Congressman insisted that President Barack Obama and his Democrat allies in the U.S. Senate are responsible for the current mess in the nation’s capital. [SNIIP] The Fox News anchor wasn’t satisfied with Rep. Gohmert’s analysis. “You’re not saying that either, Congressman?” Neville said. “Let’s have some honest talk here.” The Congressman repeated that it’s the Democrats, especially Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,...

Condemning the stupefying incompetence and callous disregard for the families of veterans who died during the “shutdown”, Judge Jeanine lambastes the Obama administration, the Pentagon, and the whole collection of Washington political hacks. She is especially tough on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. The judge also decries our gargantuan national debt and the president’s desire to raise the debt ceiling yet again. In the judge’s view, any Congress that leaves us with increased debt should have all members forfeit their entire Congressional pension. Better yet, she says, throw all of them out — both parties, both houses.

In his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Barack Obama said the government shutdown needed to end so Congress could work on comprehensive immigration reform. Obama rejected a House Republican proposal that would have re-opened the government and raised the debt-ceiling for six-weeks in return for an agreement on a "framework" on negotiations on more long-term budgetary issues. He said "this Republican shutdown" had to end "because there is so much else we should be focusing our energies on right now" and cited immigration as one of the things the government had to "fix." "We’ve got to create more jobs,...

NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- During a routine test of our back-up systems Saturday morning, Xerox’s Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system experienced a temporary shutdown. While the system is now up and running, beneficiaries in the 17 affected states continue to experience connectivity issues to access their benefits. This disruption impacts EBT beneficiaries who rely on the system for SNAP and WIC. Technical staff is addressing the issue and expect the system to be restored soon.

Some grocery and food shoppers who were trying to used government benefit cards to pay got a rude awakening on Saturday morning: their EBT cards were not working. A check here in Central New York, however, showed that grocery chains were apparently unaffected. We are being told that a technical services vendor (Xerox) had a power outage which did affect being able to pay with a benefits card in several states. As of early Saturday afternoon, the debit system was back up and the SNAP program was being rebooted, with expectations that all services would be back up shortly.

Bridge Cards reportedly not working EBT Food stamps system experiencing glitches in Michigan, other states Joanne Marie Hoopes Oct 12 2013 01:54:13 PM EDT DETROIT - The Local 4 newsroom has been flooded with calls and emails from people reporting problems with their Michigan EBT Food stamp card. Viewers say they attempted to use their Bridge Card but the system is not working and they are left unable to purchase groceries. Local 4 contacted the Michigan Department of Human Services; a spokesperson says the issue with client cards is not on the DHS end. The spokesperson says the issues are...

People in Ohio, Michigan and several other states found themselves unable to use their food stamp debit cards on Saturday, after a routine check by vendor Xerox Corp. resulted in a system failure. Shoppers from Maine to Oklahoma had to abandon baskets of groceries because they couldn't access their benefits.Ohio's cash and food assistance card payment systems went down at 11 a.m., said Benjamin Johnson, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Ohio's cash system has been fixed, however its electronic benefits transfer card system is still down. All states that use Xerox systems are affected...

Food stamp users across Mississippi and neighboring states were being declined Saturday morning as they tried to use their EBT, or Electronic Benefit Transfer, cards at grocery, dollar and convenience stores. A Sam's Club member services representative, however, said the cards would work if purchases were broken down into smaller increments worth less than $90, but one food stamps user said his card wouldn't work for a $4 purchase.

(TheBlaze/AP) — Major problems were reported Saturday all across America with the Electronic Benefits Transfer System, as consumers were stuck with no way to pay at registers, notes WBZ-TV in Boston. WBZ reported that a computer-system upgrade was to blame, while the Associated Press reports that a routine check by vendor Xerox Corp. resulted in a system failure. People in Ohio, Michigan and several other states found themselves unable to use their food stamp debit cards while shoppers from Maine to Oklahoma had to abandon baskets of groceries because they couldn’t access their benefits.

<p>A "very disturbed" President Obama has ordered his top aides to restore death benefits today for families of military service members killed in action.</p> <p>"The president was very disturbed to learn of this problem," said White House press secretary Jay Carney. "The president expects this to be fixed today. He was not pleased."</p>

On the Chuck Brooks Law-Call hour, 12:00-1:00 pm, Saturday October 10, on the Baltimore station WCBM, two separate callers stated that the "Food Stamp System" was not working at several Baltimore grocery stores. The second caller mentioned that folks in the store were blaming Republicans. I cannot personally confirm these reports. Are other Freepers noticing this in their locations?

Jonathan Bernstein considers what the pointless shutdown fight has done to Ted Cruz’s political prospects: It’s one thing to have a reputation as a loudmouth; it’s quite another to have a reputation as a loser. That’s what the shutdown fight has done to Cruz. Among true believers he’ll be the one who was a leader in a fight that surely would have won if the squishes hadn’t sold them out. But for most party actors, including many sympathetic to Tea Partyism, he’s going to be the guy who ran up the wrong hill. It would have been different if Cruz’s...

Appearing on MSNBC on Friday, Congressman Peter King continued his epic verbal assault on Ted Cruz — and, to a lesser extent, Rand Paul — by describing the Texas Senator as a “RINO” (Republican in name only) and a “fraud.” Speaking with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, King called the ongoing government shutdown “the strategy of Ted Cruz” and wondered aloud “why more Republicans around the country didn’t join me in denouncing Ted Cruz” before the shutdown began. “We cannot allow our party to be taken over by the likes of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul,” King continued, describing Cruz and Paul...