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The Tea Party Is Still Waiting for a Great Anti-Obamacare Awakening

As the (essential, unpaid) janitors of the Great American Shutdown of 2013 sweep the red solo cups and crepe paper streamers out of Capitol Hill in anticipation of tonight's vote, a small group of lawmakers are still waiting for everyone else to show up to their party. Those lawmakers, the conservative, Tea Party Republicans who decided in the first place that a shutdown threat could lead to the end of Obamacare as we know it, are now condemning the Senate deal to reopen the government and avoid a default. With just hours to go until Thursday's debt ceiling deadline, the Tea Party has no viable option on the table. Except, that's not how they're seeing it. 

The list of lawmakers planning to vote "no" on the proposal is short but growing — we know Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are nays, for one thing. Others still might be prompted to do so by FreedomWorks and Club for Growth's 11th hour denouncements of the Senate compromise plan. Heritage Action, which apparently helped to kill the House's vote on Tuesday, also urged against a vote on the Senate plan, because neither idea did enough to reform the health care law. Tonight's vote will be a "key" scored vote for Heritage. The Tea Party Patriots have sent a series of releases denouncing any sort of compromise to reporters in recent days: "The Ruling Elites in Washington, D.C. have completely abandoned the American people," reads one. It continues, "The deal cut in the Senate does NOT protect the American people from this unfair and unworkable law. The Senate deal is a complete sellout." 

Despite the failure of the Tea Party's strategy, even with the full backing of Speaker John Boehner, for the two-week shutdown and debt ceiling scare, many members of the conservative wing of the GOP still think their game is winnable — if only enough people came around to their side. FreedomWorks's Matt Kibbe hinted at this in a frustrated statement to The Washington Post following the Senate compromise deal: "This was a very winnable fight, if the Republicans had been willing to fight." He added: 

“The reaction we’re getting from our activists is resolve to keep fighting,” he added, particularly on the issue of the national debt. “Somebody needs to stop the bipartisan recklessness, and that’s what we’re here to do.”

There's a strange contradiction on the surface of the Tea Party that's now pretty obvious to shutdown watchers. On the one hand, the group claims to represent the majority of Americans, something not borne out by any national polling on political affiliation. On the other hand, the group frames itself as an upstart outsider with a message that's always, as they see it, about to catch fire and spread through the rest of the U.S. That too, as evidenced by the shutdown, is not so far borne out by reality. 

That contradiction makes more sense if you view the Tea Party in religious terms. Bloomberg News' Francis Wilkinson tried to do this earlier in the week, asking whether the group might become the "upstart" religion of the Republican party. But that's not quite right. The Tea Party is already the religious wing of the GOP, sharing much of its organization structure and affiliations with the group formerly known as the Religious Right, a point that's been well-documented for years. This is a group that believes in the power of the Word, no matter how unpopular that word might be. Ted Cruz didn't win the Values Voter Straw Poll because he forced a shutdown, or is an effective senator. He won because, in the minds of the attendees, he speaks the truth. Boehner is now winning support from the Tea Party wing of the House, again, not because he won any important concessions for Republicans (he didn't). It's because he fought. In a way, the Tea Party practices "faith of a mustard seed" politics: if you speak the truth loudly enough, plant the seed of an idea in the heads of the American public, then other Americans — the good ones, anyway — will come around to your side in time. It's political evangelism. And fortunately for the Tea Party (but for virtually no one else) the group will have plenty of opportunities in the coming months to preach again. 

Weirdly, the shutdown may have overshadowed the Tea Party's best opportunity to convince Americans that Obamacare is unworkable: the glitchy state-by-state roll-out of the exchange has gotten plenty of attention in the press, but that story has played second fiddle to the current shutdown and doomsday threat of Thursday's debt default deadline. 

       

Liveblog: It's Up to the Senate to Prevent Default Devastation

After spending 24 hours watching a House proposal emerge and then crumble, Senate leaders on Tuesday night apparently finalized a proposal to avoid default. The question remaining: Can it pass the House — and quickly enough?

According to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Thursday is the date on which the government might for the first time be unable to pay its debt obligations — a scenario which could cause enormous disruptions in the global economy. On Tuesday, House Republicans struggled to develop a plan that might satisfy its most conservative wing, eventually determining that no proposal could do so. At some point on Wednesday morning, Senate leadership is expected to unveil a deal hammered out last night — perhaps similar to its Monday proposal, minus the delay of one Obamacare-related tax.

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Updates

8:43 a.m.: The Wall Street Journal has had enough of the House Republicans.

This is the quality of thinking—or lack thereof—that has afflicted many GOP conservatives from the beginning of this budget showdown. They picked a goal they couldn't achieve in trying to defund ObamaCare from one House of Congress, and then they picked a means they couldn't sustain politically by pursuing a long government shutdown and threatening to blow through the debt limit.

Wednesday, 8:30 a.m.: The National Review's Robert Costa summarizes the House Republican position in a greatly-overdue tweet.

Good morning. Had breakfast w/ House Rs, who said they're losing faith in their leadership.

— Robert Costa (@robertcostaNRO) October 16, 2013

He continued, explaining that they Republicans are ready for a "tough vote," and are disappointed with the "lack of strategy" from Speaker Boehner. Nor are they looking forward to the day ahead.

Lots of Qs on House Rs minds, esp: don't we have to vote first now? Accept Sen deal as amdt then throw it back? Will be ugly, they say.

— Robert Costa (@robertcostaNRO) October 16, 2013

There is no House Republican conference meeting scheduled for this morning.

Tuesday:

10:45 p.m.: And, we're not likely to see an announcement of
    

Russian Meteor Finally Recovered from the Bottom of a Lake

The largest remaining piece of the gigantic meteor that exploded over central Russia earlier this year before plunging into a frozen lake, was recovered this morning. And it's still a pretty healthy chunk of rock. Diving crews have spent most of the last month working to lift the the massive fragment from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul, where it settled after plunging from the sky and breaking through the then-frozen surface back on February 15. They hauled it to the shore on Wednesday morning to present to throngs of media and interested spectators.

[image error]Despite burning up and exploding in the upper atmosphere, the fragment that remains is still quite large. The meteorite is several feet wide and estimated to weigh more than 1,000 pounds.

Even though observers knew exactly where the rock landed, the recovery operation still took weeks to come together. It took salvage crews 10 days just to uncover it from the mud it was buried under on the bottom of the lake. Meanwhile, divers had to work in near blackout conditions, without spoiling the quality of the water, which is a drinking source for nearby towns.

It turns out that the meteorite was actually once part of a larger asteroid. Back in August, astronomers announced that they traced the apparent path of the fireball back to a known asteroid that's still circling the solar system, but was hard to see because of its "dark" surface. Researchers will now study the remains to try learn more about what it was made of and where it might have been before falling to Earth. 

Meanwhile, Russian and American scientists continue to cook up plans to keep even bigger rocks from falling on our heads in the future, including maybe firing some of our nuclear missiles at them. 

Inset photo: AP

       

Here Are the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced this year's nominees for induction, including the Nirvana, The Replacements, and Link Wray. This is Nirvana's first year of eligibility, since their first record was released in 1988 (candidates become eligible 25 years after their first release). Chic, whose guitarist Nile Rodgers is having a resurgence in prominence thanks to Daft Punk, is nominated as well. Peter Gabriel, already in the Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis, has another shot at entry, this time as a solo artist.

Here's the full list of nominees:

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Chic Deep Purple Peter Gabriel Hall and Oates Kiss LL Cool J The Meters Nirvana N.W.A. The Replacements Linda Ronstadt Cat Stevens Link Wray Yes The Zombies

The Class of 2014 will be inducted at a ceremony in April.

       

Airport Employee Arrested in Connection to Dry Ice Bombs at LAX

The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested 28-year-old Dicarlo Bennett following the appearance of numerous dry ice bombs in restricted areas of LAX on Sunday and Monday. According to the Los Angeles Times, Bennett had previously worked for airport contractor Servisair.

Law enforcement officials also clarified that the number of improvised explosives found on Monday was three in addition to another on Sunday. Two soda bottles containing a dry ice mixture had been found around 8:30 p.m. last night. According to KTLA, "A fizzing bottle was found on the tarmac outside the international terminal Monday night by an employee who told police he had cleaned up a similar device the previous day that had apparently exploded in the same area."

It is not clear why Bennett allegedly placed the bottles around the airport, though police suspect he was more a disgruntled employee than devious terrorist. His bail has been set at $1 million dollars.

While the incidents did not heavily disrupt normal airport operations, extra patrols and bomb sniffing dogs were in effect throughout Tuesday.

       

Two Arrested in Suicide of Bullied Teenager

Two teenagers were arrested on Monday night on charges of aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony, following the suicide of Rebecca Sedwick, a seventh grader in central Florida, last month. While investigators were building up a body of evidence against the two teenagers—one of whom is 14 years old, the other 12—Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said that a post on Facebook compelled him to act on a more expedited schedule.

According to The New York Times, the older teenager was brazen in her lack of remorse:

In Internet shorthand it began “Yes, ik” — I know — “I bullied Rebecca nd she killed herself.” The writer concluded that she didn’t care, using an obscenity to make the point and a heart as a perverse flourish.

The sheriff said that postings like that compelled him to prevent her from acting in a similar way to others. "We learned this over the weekend, and we decided that, look, we can’t leave her out there," he said in a statement to the press. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the girls admitted to bullying Sedwick following their arrest.

 

Sheriff Judd also laid some of the blame on the older girl's parents, who did little to curtail their daughter's online activity:

"I’m aggravated that the parents are not doing what parents should do: after she is questioned and involved in this, why does she even have a device?" Sheriff Judd said. "Parents, who instead of taking that device and smashing it into a thousand pieces in front of that child, say her account was hacked."

The investigation is still trying to get access to data from online services Kik and ask.fm, the latter of which has a history of being involved in teenage harassment. 

The older suspect, identified as the main perpetrator, is being held in juvenile detention, while the younger suspect, who has been described as formerly Sedwick's best friend, is being held under house arrest.

[Pictured: the victim, Rebecca Sedwick]

       

The Sandy Hook School Demolition Will Be a Private Affair

Following the referendum last week in which Newton, Connecticut residents voted to demolish Sandy Hook Elementary, plans are being put in place to have the teardown completed by the first anniversary of the tragedy on December 14.

The Associated Press reports that the town is going to great lengths to prevent the school's history from being exploited during its razing. First Selectman E. Patricia Llodra told the AP that "We're going to every possible length to eliminate any possibility that any artifacts from the building would be taken from the campus and ... end up on eBay."

That means that contractors hired for the demolition will need to sign confidentiality agreements which prevent any public discussion about the effort as well as bar anyone from taking photographs of the operation. All of  the debris will be carted off to an undisclosed location, and documentation will be required for any metal that needs to be hauled off-site to be destroyed. Workers will also be subject to background checks.

The effort to prevent anyone from cashing in on Sandy Hook is understandable, given various previous attempts to try and profit off of the tragedy. Nouel Alba, who posed as a victim's aunt in order to collect funds, was sentenced to eight months in prison on Tuesday for fraud.

       

How a Gun Permit Led to an Arrest in a Years-Old Racist Graffiti Case

Raymond Stevens, a New Hampshire tattoo parlor owner, has no criminal record, or any other obvious connection to a series of racist graffiti defacements in Concord during the fall of 2011. He does, however, draw the letter "b" in a very unusual way. And that "b" is exactly what led Det. Wade Brown to gather enough evidence for Stevens's arrest on Tuesday on felony criminal mischief charges. 

Stevens draws his lowercase "b's" like the number six, exactly like the "b's" found scrawled on the homes of three African refugee families, all with small children. According to the Associated Press, who detailed Brown's work, the three messages said things like "The subhumans in this house are enjoying a free ride," "Go back to your hell and leave us alone," and "We cannot coexist with Third World scum." 

Brown apparently focused in on the "b" immediately, enough to do an extensive search of criminal records and complaints on file with Concord police for the unusually shaped letter. When that didn't work, he turned to another set of files on hand: over 1,500 gun permit applications. The AP explains what happened when Brown looked at Steven's file: 

"Three telltale "b's" appeared to be an exact match to the racist messages," Brown wrote. He said the handwriting similarities were "so striking" that he focused on that application and the man who submitted it.

There were other clues in the handwriting, especially with the way the "u’s," "s’s" and "y’s" were written, along with the peculiar word choice in the messages that later matched phrases attributable to the suspect. Stevens also used to live near the vandalized homes. The Nashua Telegraph notes that Stevens also had connections to white supremacist groups in Connecticut, and a previous history of racist vandalism. According to the Telegraph, police couldn't seem to stop finding evidence building a case against Stevens once Brown connected him to the case from that gun permit: 

Brown researched Stevens on social media sites and found several pages that included racist cartoons and diatribes, plus YouTube videos that included “disturbing and violent” comments about minorities. A search of his home, vehicle and the Nashua tattoo shop turned up more white supremacist literature, including a letter that appeared to be a first-person justification of the graffiti incidents in Concord contained in a pamphlet for the American Nazi party, according to the affidavit. 

Stevens faces 10-30 years in jail for the crimes, an unusually steep penalty prompted by the racial motivations investigators believe prompted the graffiti. 

       

The Dalai Lama Supports Medical Marijuana Use

The Dalai Lama isn't that keen on recreational marijuana use, but the spiritual leader told supporters in Mexico on Tuesday that he supports legal, medicinal marijuana when the drug has been shown to have value. The comments, in the middle of a debate on the drug in the country as Mexico City considers legislation to legalize pot, came at an event hosted by former president Vicente Fox. Fox supports the legalization of pot for a different reason: because it could cut off a valuable stream of revenue for the country's drug cartels. 

Here are the comments, via the AFP, which came in response to a question from the audience:

The Tibetan spiritual leader, speaking at an event hosted by former Mexican president Vicente Fox, said that "the exception" for smoking marijuana would be if it has pharmaceutical virtues.

"But otherwise if it's just an issue of somebody (using the drug to have) a crazy mind, that's not good." 

The Tibetan Buddhist leader, interestingly, didn't get an official welcome from the Mexican government during his five-day visit to the country. That's because the government of current president Enrique Pena Nieto would like to keep building friendlier relations with China. China considers the Dalai Lama to be a dangerous separatist — he's lived in exile for decades. And the country has been known to punish countries, including Mexico, who give the leader an official greeting. 

       

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Is a Winner

Today in show business news: Elisabeth Hasselbeck brings in the ratings, Jurassic World adds to its cast, and Zooey Deschanel is a producer now.

Though she had a rocky start, it seems that Elisabeth Hasselbeck is a success in her new gig at Fox & Friends. Ratings-wise, at least. And that's all anyone cares about anyway. In the month since Hasselbeck's debut, the Fox News morning debriefing is up 16 percent in overall viewers in and 22 percent in the 25-54 demographic from where it was at the end of the last quarter. Those are big jumps! And probably prove that Hasselbeck is worth the money. She's taken a little hit in visibility now that she's off The View, but she's certainly brought some to Fox & Friends. So it's a trade off, I guess. She'll likely never get the show to the ratings level of The View — about 3 million people watch that show every day, compared to Fox & Friends's just over a million — but she could get close someday. Nice work, Hasselbeck! Now if they could just replace Doocy and Kilmeade, the ol' crack team of goofus and goofuser, then the show could really be something. [Deadline]

Yesterday we learned that a 12-year-old has been cast in the Jurassic Park fourquel (sorry), Jurassic World, and today we learn that the movie is upping the kid quotient by casting an 18-year-old. Nick Robinson, from Melissa and Joey and Kings of Summer, has landed a big role. He'll play a fearsome twinkasaurus in the movie. No I don't know who he's playing. We don't know who anybody's playing! Well, we know that Robinson will be the 12-year-old's brother. But that's it. So it's him, the littler kid, and Bryce Dallas Howard. That's who's in this thing now. Not a Sam Neill or a Laura Dern or even a Richard Attenborough in sight. And you can forget about a Jeff Goldblum. That's probably not going to happen. It's just going to be Bryce Dallas Howard babysitting a bunch of kids on dinosaur island. That's it. That's the movie. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Zooey Deschanel is now producing television shows. She's sold projects to both Fox and NBC, which is probably more projects than you've sold to a network this week. (Maybe not though! I don't know your journey.) The one for Fox is called Freelancers and is about "a disgraced and newly-single lawyer who, after getting fired from his corporate job, has to start over at age 30. He sets up shop at one of those modern, shared office spaces that are suddenly everywhere, where he’s forced to interact with a diverse group of oddball freelancers." OK. Yup. That sounds like Zooey Deschanel's milieu, doesn't it? Bet she hangs out with a lot of people who freelance. The NBC show is based on something from Deschanel's website Hello Giggles. It's called And Lies I Tell My Daughter and is about "an unconventional mom finds that honesty is not always the best policy when it comes to her new family." Hm. All right. Sounds kind of Kelly Oxford-ish. But it's not! It's Hello Giggles-ish. Which. Well, look, these are both in the early stages of development so who really knows what they'll be. Let's not judge. We don't know anything yet. [Deadline]

Chris Pine will be appearing in Horrible Bosses 2, a deal he just closed. He was supposed to play Christoph Waltz's son in the sequel, but Waltz is no longer attached. But Pine will presumably be playing someone's son. And presumably he'll also be one of the horrible bosses? Why else would he be in this unless he was playing one of the horrible bosses? That would be dumb. He's a horrible boss. He has to be. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Jesus will return in February of next year. At least in movie form! Fox announced today that its reworked version of History's miniseries The Bible, focusing on Jesus and adding some additional footage, will be released on February 28, 2014, featuring a score by Hans Zimmer. Are you excited? More importantly, are you prepared? Better get your affairs in order. And stop having affairs! Because this is really happening. In like four months. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Here is a trailer for a "romantic" comedy called That Awkward Moment, about Zac Efron and summer indie darlings Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) and Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale) being jerks. But then they meet girls and don't want to be jerks, but they're still mostly jerks. It's a red band trailer, so consider yourself warned. (Read: NSFW) Zac Efron says the word "cock" a coupla times. So. It's that kind of thing. Boys, you deserve better than this.