President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughter Malia meet with Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the Taliban a year ago, in the Oval Office, Oct. 11 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Third in a series of my favorite YouTube snark, today we visit with the geniuses at “Real Actors Read”, aka “Gottakidtofeed”.
The basic premise is that real actors read things such as Yelp reviews, missed connections ads, Netflix reviews, and such. But, of course, they emote as only actors can. All of which makes for a few minutes of hilarity and stress release.
USA Today: Rain, not trucker protest, slows D.C.-area traffic
Traffic on the Capital Beltway around Washington was slow on Friday, but the culprits were largely steady rain and a heavy volume of weekday commuters, not a purported 3-day rolling protest by independent truckers.
Video cams occasionally showed three trucks rolling side by side, clogging up cars and other trucks behind them, but the Beltway otherwise keep truckin’.
…. Although organizers of the “Ride for the Constitution” said thousands – perhaps as many as 10,000 – trucks would take part, at mid-morning, only about 30 or so tractor-trailers were spotted on the Inner Loop of the Beltway that circles Washington through Maryland and Virginia….
Many of the trucks bore the official Twitter hashtag of the ride – #T2SDA – which stands for “Truckers to Shut Down America.”
ThinkProgress: Obamacare Has Gotten More Popular Since The GOP Shut Down The Government To Defund It
A faction of Tea Party Republicans led by Sen Ted Cruz essentially forced a government shutdown to pressure Democrats to delay or defund the health reform law. But that dramatic move hasn’t done anything to convince Americans that Obamacare is a policy they should oppose. According to a new poll, Obamacare is actually gaining in popularity at the same time as the Republican Party has taken extreme measures to take a stand against it.
A new NBC-Wall Street Journal poll finds that 38 percent of Americans say Obamacare is a good idea, which represents a 7-point jump from last month. It’s the third-highest popularity rating for Obamacare — which typically doesn’t poll well as a whole, even though Americans tend to support its individual provisions — since the health law was first enacted.
The poll also finds that 50 percent of voters don’t want to eliminate funding for the health reform law, and the vast majority are opposed to tying Obamacare to the ongoing negotiations over the government shutdown. Just 23 percent of Americans say they want to continue the current shutdown to sabotage the health law.
Sally Wiggin: Heinz Field Plays Host To Educational Enrollment Event For Affordable Care Act
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Ambassador Dan Rooney arrived together at the event at Heinz Field’s West Club Lounge. The president of Community College of Allegheny College and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald were also there, as people who were uninsured asked questions about the Affordable Care Act of trained assistants.
Rooney also explained why he felt it was necessary to host this event at the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. “I had nine children, some of them had diabetes and lupus. I was able to help them. But there are many folks out there who don’t have the same wherewithal,” Rooney said.
Sebelius said now that the websites are up and running, she believes more and more people are coming to better understand the law that requires Americans to have health insurance. “Up until now, there has been a lot of misinformation about what the law is, and what it does. We are finally at the point where we can say to people, ‘Don’t listen to me and certainly don’t listen to the other side. Check it out for yourself,'” she said.
Billings Gazette: St. Vincent Healthcare Offers Affordable Care Act Enrollment And Education Fairs
St. Vincent Healthcare is aggressively reaching out to help uninsured Montanans gain access to health insurance because it is in the hospital’s best interest, said Jason Barker, president and CEO of St. Vincent Healthcare. Having more people covered with health insurance will help reduce bad debt, he said. In 2012, St. Vincent provided between $15 million and $16 million worth of charity medical care to people without health insurance.
The real push behind a series of upcoming Affordable Care Act Enrollment Fairs at St. Vincent Healthcare is more altruistic. Helping people access affordable health insurance is a good fit with the hospital’s overall mission, Barker said. Its mission is to improve the health of the individuals and the communities it serves with particular attention to the poor and vulnerable. “And, the folks who are impacted most favorably by the Affordable Care Act are the poor and vulnerable,” Barker said.
President Barack Obama talks with Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, left, and National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling aboard Air Force One on the flight to Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct. 11, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Michael Tomasky: The Day The Mad Dogs Took Over The Republican Party
It was a head-spinning day in Washington, yesterday was, as the story seemed to change from hour to hour in terms of who was proposing or accepting or refusing what and who seemed up and who seemed down. But through it all, one constant did not change and doesn’t seem likely to change: The Republicans are wrecking themselves.
the Republican Party has finally and fully succumbed to its cultural rage The rage kept the base galvanized. It kept the enemy, or enemies—liberal and the media, often one and the same—in the gun sights. But it could also be controlled, the way Reagan controlled it.
But all of them have used it. And they have tolerated it, the casual racism, the hatred of gay people, and the rest. They tolerated it because the booboisie voted the right way, and because they, the elites, remained in charge. Well, they’re not in charge now. The snarling dog they kept in a pen for decades has just escaped and bitten their hand off.
President Barack Obama reads a document while en route to Pittsburgh International Airport in Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct. 11, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Mark Murray: NBC/WSJ Poll: Shutdown Debate Damages GOP
The Republican Party has been badly damaged in the ongoing government shutdown and debt limit standoff, with a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finding that a majority of Americans blame the GOP for the shutdown, and with the party’s popularity declining to its lowest level.
Yet what is perhaps even more worrisome for the GOP is the “boomerang” effect: As the party has used the shutdown and fiscal fight to campaign against the nation’s health-care law and for limited government, the poll shows those efforts have backfired. For one thing, the health-care law has become more popular since the shutdown began.
President Barack Obama opens a door in the Oval Office to greet children from the education documentary “Waiting for Superman,” Oct. 11, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Bob Cesca: The Only Thing Republicans Really Hate About ‘Obamacare’ Is ‘Obama’
On second thought, I’d like to correct that thing I wrote about how the individual mandate is the only aspect of Obamacare that Republicans (suddenly) dislike. They mainly dislike the “Obama” part of the word “Obamacare.” And that’s the point of this little exercise. The dissatisfaction with, and outright hatred of Obamacare has little to do with the law itself. It has everything to do with the president who proposed it and who shepherded it through Congress. If that president had been named “Bush” or “Reagan” or even, heaven forbid, “McCain” or “Romney,” Republicans would be demanding, “Keep your government hands off my Dubyacare!”
President Barack Obama listens to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa during a meeting on infrastructure investment in the State Dining Room of the White House, Oct. 11, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Irin Carmon: California Moves To Prevent More Gosnells
For years, lawmakers from the U.S. Senate to states across the country have cited the abusesat Kermit Gosnell’s Pennsylvania clinic to restrict access to abortion. Today, California Governor Jerry Brown didn’t mention Gosnell’s name, but by signing the Early Access to Abortion Bill into law, he did more than any of those legislators to prevent another Gosnell.
The Early Access to Abortion Bill will enable trained nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants to perform first-trimester abortions by vacuum aspiration. It’s the logic of cause and effect: If you make it easier to access an abortion, earlier, and from a legitimate provider, there will be fewer desperate customers turning to unsafe providers.
President Barack Obama boards Air Force One at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, Oct. 11, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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TPM: Obama Signs Bill To Pay Military Death Benefits During Shutdown
President Barack Obama signed a House bill on Thursday night that allows families of deceased service members to collect benefits during the government shutdown, the White House announced. The bill “provides continuing appropriations for standard death gratuities and related survivor benefits for survivors of deceased military service members of the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes,” according to the White House statement.
Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that the president was “very disturbed” when he learned the Pay Our Military Act, which was passed before the government shutdown to ensure U.S. military members would receive pay for its duration, did not explicitly address the benefits.
Guinness Book of World Records holder John Cassidy performs a balloon act for First Lady Michelle Obama in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Oct. 11, 2011. Cassidy performed for kids on the South Lawn before the First Lady launched a challenge to break the Guinness World Records title for the most people doing jumping jacks in a 24-hour period. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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President Barack Obama greets students from the education documentary “Waiting for Superman” in the Oval Office, Oct. 11, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama meets with members of his national security team in the Situation Room of the White House, Oct. 11, 2011, to thank them for their work in disrupting a plot to assassinate Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir of Saudi Arabia. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
The Obama Diary 
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