Free Republic

(WASHINGTON) -- It appeared Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, expected something entirely different from Facebook when he asked whether his Facebook followers were better off with Obamacare than they were four years ago, suggesting they “Comment with YES or NO!”Post by Senator Ted Cruz.Comment they did. By late Wednesday afternoon, the status update had more than 55,000 replies.   “I and a few million other people are a lot better off,” said one user. “I hope you are enjoying your Cadillac plan given to you by your wife’s employer, Goldman Sachs.” “YES, best law ever! And way overdue!” read another one....

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration says the government shutdown last fall resulted in nearly 8 million fewer visitors to national parks, costing the parks and surrounding communities an estimated $414 million in lost visitor spending. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the shutdown was a striking reminder that national parks are a powerful economic engine for local economies across the country. The report released Monday said five states, including California and Arizona, lost more than $20 million during the 16-day shutdown.

According to CNBC, some of the 400,000 government workers drew on unemployment benefits during the shutdown, and it’s likely that only some of them will have to give it back — adding a few million to the price of the shutdown, already up in the billions due to lost worker productivity and revenue. The U.S. economy was damaged as well, and that cost may tally up near $24 billion between October and December, if economists are to be believed.

**SNIP** Lautenberg died in June after nearly three decades in the U.S. Senate. Many people would agree that he is owed a debt of gratitude but not everybody agrees that his widow Bonnie should receive $174,000, funded by taxpayers. Lautenberg was worth nearly $60-million. “I don’t think it’s right. I mean most us can’t afford death benefits like that. You know we would be happy to have a little bit saved just to bury ourselves,” Wayne resident Carol Dabaghian said. The payoff was buried in the government shutdown bill. It is a death benefit that is almost always approved and...

Reuters is carrying an editorial today on how the DC "government has failed us – again." Knowing Reuters's record on articles like this, you might wonder why I stopped to read it. It was the title of the article, "The Sanity Caucus," that caught my eye. Surprised by the title, I scanned down, wondering if the article would make the point that the Tea Party folks, despite their methods, had the right ideas: Stop the expansion of the US government by any means possible, at least long enough to make a serious point about a serious issue. This wasn't...

WASHINGTON — Next year was supposed to be a prime opportunity for Republicans to retake the Senate. And for a while, everything seemed to be breaking their way: a wave of Democratic retirements, a fluke in the electoral map that put a large number of races in states that President Obama lost, a strong farm team of conservative Senate hopefuls from the House. Then the government shut down. Now, instead of sharpening their attacks on Democrats, Republicans on Capitol Hill are being forced to explain why they are not to blame and why Americans should trust them to govern both...

The U.S. government has shut down. Sadly, so have most of its websites. No astronomy picture of the day at NASA.gov. No food pyramid guide at USDA.gov. No scanned images of old-timey baseball cards at LOC.gov. That's the bad news. Now here's the good news: There are two easy methods to try accessing shut-down government sites. Your first option is Google's (or some other search engine's) "Cached" feature. Enter your keywords, hit search, then look for a tiny green arrow next to the URL of the government-hosted search result that you're interested in. Click the arrow to open a menu,...

President Obama Explains the Shutdown Yesterday, eight days into the Republican government shutdown, President Obama spoke from the White House about the need for Republicans in Congress to stop threatening another recession just to sabotage Obamacare, stop demanding ransom just for doing their jobs, and just vote to reopen the government. He talked about the toll this shutdown is already taking on our country and the economy, and warned against the dire consequences of a default if Congress doesn’t act to prevent an economic shutdown. Keeping the government running and paying the nation’s bills aren’t bargaining chips or a matter...

<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>

Most Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, the poll suggests, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it.

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — An online dating website which bills itself as “The World’s Largest Sugar Daddy Dating Website” says it has recorded a 50 percent jump in average daily sign-ups since the start of the government shutdown. SeekingArrangement.com claims its traffic has seen a dramatic rise in people seeking “sugar daddy’s,” which Merriam-Webster defines as: “A well-to-do usually older man who supports or spends lavishly on a mistress, girlfriend, or boyfriend.” Similarly, WhatsYourPrice.com – which allows first-dates to the highest bidder – has reported a similar massive increase in daily signups since last Sunday despite the fall typically being a...

After being taken down, officially because of the government shutdown, the federal website dealing with alerts about abducted children – AmberAlert.gov – was restored Monday morning.

U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Austin, reported anti-Tea Party and anti-Republican protestors vandalized the entry to his district office in Cleburne this week. Tea bags were hung from the door, along with signs, which Williams' staff claim are the property of Moveon.org. The signs deliver a variety of messages. Among those are, "It's time for your recall," "You're fired," and "It's time to vote you out." (snip) Other signs call Williams an "anti-American racist" and "D___bag Republican."

Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski told fellow panelists Monday she thought that Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Republicans like him don’t love the country because of their battles to defund Obamacare that she believes led to the government shutdown, drawing the ire of host Joe Scarborough. “That shows just how much they hate him and don’t love the country, and that’s what’s scary about this,” she said. “If they actually go through with this, this is about something else.” “Are you saying they don’t love the country?” Scarborough asked. “Are you saying they do? Ted Cruz and his group...

Obama has had the Highways partially closed so you cannot stop and look out the windows to see Rushmore. Will it stop there? Nope! Rushmore blockage stirs anger in S.D. The whole Highways system will not be shut down, but to make it painful he will have the Highways cordoned off to single lanes to bring the Economy to it's knees. You can bet your ass this is in the works. What happens then? You guessed it, a national Emergency from his own creation. Obama will have his Economic Shutdown as predicted by Mark Levin on 10/3/13. If the Republicans...

A Gannett company newspaper. Title and link only allowed on FR:http://www.argusleader.com/article/20131004/UPDATES/310040047/Rushmore-blockage-stirs-anger-in-S-D-

The federal government has been blocking people from pulling off the side of the road to view Mt. Rushmore! This is government arrogance at its worst. [The original article is from a source we cannot link to here on FR (Argus Leader).] This was taken from Kristi Noem's page (R-SD).

No matter how HORRIFYINGLY PAINFULLY TRAGICALLY AWFUL it really is, it is a MILLION times worse. Then things get *really* tough. After that, HORRIBLE things happen, and then we REALLY get screwed. Immediately following that, the BOTTOM drops out and we are all DEAD, and THEN things get HARD! Once that happens, it signifies the TOTAL collapse of EVERYTHING, and that’s when the CATASTROPHE starts! It’s the sign of the end of EVERYTHING, but after that, comes the TRAGEDY. Then times get DIFFICULT, and things get WORSE, until it’s EXCRUCIATING, but that’s just the beginning, because after that it’s all...

Uh-oh... my lights are flickering. A police siren cries. A dog howls in the distance. #ShutNado draws nigh! — jon gabriel (@ExJon) October 01, 2013Is Geraldo in DC doing live updates as to what we've lost so far in the #shutnado?— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) October 01, 2013