memeorandum: House approves back pay for workers hit by the shutdown (Pete Kasperowicz/The Hill)

1:00 PM ET, October 5, 2013

Top Items:

Boehner Urges G.O.P. Unity in ‘Epic Battle’ — WASHINGTON — With his troops anxious for a way forward, Speaker John A. Boehner began a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Friday morning with a recitation of letters from local schoolchildren on how they deal with stress.

Discussion: Gawker, Talking Points Memo, PoliticusUSA, Prairie Weather, Liberaland, The Monkey Cage and Taegan Goddard's …

David Weigel / Slate:

How Democrats Got a Spine — The Republican Party taught them how to be uncompromising. — It's easy to forget, but this year began with a nick-of-time congressional compromise. At the 11th hour, with Washington's supply of clichés nearly depleted, the House and Senate approved a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Mahablog, Daily Kos and No More Mister Nice Blog

Cameron Joseph / The Hill:

GOP finds its shutdown message — Republicans are seeking to paint Democrats as the “party of no” to help dig themselves out of a hole on the government shutdown. — The effort is aimed at softening the political blow of the shutdown while buying Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) time to figure out an end game.

Discussion: Prairie Weather, New York Times, Taegan Goddard's … and Wonkblog

Associated Press:

Parties Race to Use Shutdown for 2014 Leverage — Republicans and Democrats have wasted little time trying to use the first federal government shutdown in a generation for political advantage ahead of next year's midterm elections, seizing on the plight of furloughed workers …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Associated Press and Weasel Zippers

Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:

The Seinfeld shutdown — Quick: What do Republicans want in exchange for ending the government shutdown? If you know the answer, congratulations — because Republicans sure don't. — When this saga began, it was about defunding Obamacare. House Republicans passed legislation to keep …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Ed Driscoll

Mike Lillis / The Hill:
Dems plan discharge petition to force vote on ending shutdown

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and Liberaland

Igor Bobic / Talking Points Memo:
Cruz: GOP Already Compromised By Demanding To Defund, Not Repeal Obamacare

Discussion: Politico and Hullabaloo

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
House Democrats Propose Hail Mary Strategy For Ending Shutdown

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Eschaton and The Plum Line

Reuters:

Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult — (Reuters) - Switzerland will hold a vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all adults, in a further sign of growing public activism over pay inequality since the financial crisis. — A grassroots committee is calling …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Julie Pace / Associated Press:

OBAMA TO PUBLIC: DON'T GIVE UP ON HEALTH SIGN-UPS — WASHINGTON (AP) — Defending the shaky rollout of his health care law, President Barack Obama said frustrated Americans “definitely shouldn't give up” on the problem-plagued program now at the heart of his dispute with Republicans over reopening the federal government.

Discussion: Associated Press, Taegan Goddard's …, Post Politics and NBCNews

Pete Kasperowicz / The Hill:

House approves back pay for workers hit by the shutdown — The House voted unanimously Saturday to retroactively pay back federal workers who are not receiving a paycheck because of the government shutdown. — Members approved the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act, H.R. 3223, in a 407-0 vote, with 25 members not voting.

Discussion: Liberaland

Pema Levy / Newsweek:

THE WOMAN WHO KNOWS THE NSA'S SECRETS — Trawling for needles in the data haystack

Discussion: emptywheel, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Pent-Up Demand for Health Insurance — There were plenty of computer glitches when millions of Americans went online to check out their options for affordable insurance policies on the new health care exchanges that opened for business this week. It was frustrating, but it was also an indication …

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Alex Pappas / The Daily Caller:

Priests threatened with arrest if they minister to military during shutdown — In a stunning development, some military priests are facing arrest if they celebrate mass or practice their faith on military bases during the federal government shutdown. — “With the government shutdown …

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, The Gateway Pundit, americanthinker.com and The PJ Tatler

John Schlageter / milarch.org:
Shutdown Impacts Chapel Services

Discussion: The Hill, Ed Driscoll, Independent Journal Review, Weasel Zippers and National Review

Mila Mimica / nbcwashington.com:

Man Found With Burns on Nat'l Mall in Critical Condition — The man may have set himself on fire, police said. — Park Police officials tell NBC Washington a man may have set himself on fire at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Friday afternoon. — The incident was reported around 4:30 p.m …

Discussion: NBCNews, The Gateway Pundit and The Raw Story

EIA:

U.S. expected to be largest producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2013 — The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that the United States will be the world's top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2013, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Discussion: E2-Wire, EcoWatch, The Daily Caller and The Raw Story

David A. Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

For Rep. Ted Yoho, government shutdown is ‘the tremor before the tsunami’ — Why in the world would Ted Yoho ever back down? — “This one is from a 72-year-old lady: ‘Way to go, tiger,’” said Yoho (R-Fla.), a freshman congressman. In the middle of the government shutdown that he had helped bring on …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Booman Tribune

IC ON THE RECORD:

DNI Statement: Why the Intelligence Community Seeks to... Why the Intelligence Community Seeks to Understand Online Communication Tools & Technologies — October 4, 2013 — Recently published news articles discuss the Intelligence Community's interest in tools used to facilitate anonymous online communication.

Discussion: The Switch, emptywheel, CANNONFIRE and The Verge

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Devil's Xmas Tree Lite — So long as House Republicans maintain the initiative in the current fiscal fight, we're all living in Robert Costa's world. His latest missive from Boehnerland (entitled “The Emerging Offer") suggests that the Speaker and such helpmeets as Paul Ryan are already far advanced …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Fix, The Reality-Based Community and Booman Tribune

Tom Scocca / Gawker:

This Free-Running War Robot Is Not Designed to Harm Humans Yet — It has been a busy week for the Machine-Human Alliance. Sorry! The Human-Machine Alliance. Humans will always take precedence. First there was the deployment of South Korea's autonomous jellyfish-killing aquatic robot swarm.

Discussion: The Verge