If Darrell Issa's vision of America's Ebola-ridden future is correct -- where people mindlessly vomit on one another in subways -- then we as a nation truly deserve Ebola. Don Young apologized for making derogatory comments about same-sex marriage in front of a bunch of high school students, but not for the part where he called them queerbots and shoved a couple into trash cans. And at least one GOP aide is tossing around the idea of having Monica Lewinsky testify on the Hill for some reason or another. What ever happened to passing slow Fridays by skipping work early and reading in the park? This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, October 24th, 2014:
DARRELL ISSA TACKLED EBOLA AND IT WAS EVERYTHING YOU'D EXPECT - There was a lengthy section about vomiting on people in the subway. It was great. Mike McAuliff: "At a Congressional hearing to evaluate America's response to the Ebola outbreak, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) eschewed the calm approach, suggesting U.S. medical officials are flailing in the dark and that their ignorance could prove deadly. Issa started by pointing out the flaws of the response so far, which has seen two nurses become infected in Texas while treating the first victim of the disease to become ill in the United States. Then he went on to compare Ebola, which can only be spread by contact with bodily fluids of a person showing symptoms of the disease, to infamous outbreaks of highly contagious flu in the past. The Spanish flu 'claimed at least 20 million people,' Issa said, noting that more recent outbreaks of easily spread flu in the 1950s and '60s killed tens of thousands of people." [HuffPost]
Issa doesn't seem to know how to pronounce "Ebola."
MEETINGS HELD IN WHITE HOUSE: REPORT - Plus attendees get free advertising for their consulting firms in BuzzFeed: "Since last year, President Obama’s chief of staff has convened regular meetings in his West Wing office with a rotating cast of domestic and foreign policy experts, pundits, and former officials from the Obama and Clinton administrations. In a White House known for a trademark insularity, Denis McDonough has made it a point to bring more people into the White House fold...Philippe Reines, a longtime adviser to Hillary Clinton, has attended a number of the McDonough meetings, according to three participants. Jeremy Bash, the former chief of staff to Leon Panetta at the CIA and the Pentagon, has also attended meetings, those sources said. (Last year, Bash and Reines founded a consulting firm together called Beacon Global Strategies.)" [BuzzFeed]
SOME RANDOM MONICA LEWINSKY SPECULATION, BECAUSE WHY NOT - Enjoy this big heaping dose of Friday. The Hill: "Monica Lewinsky's attempt to transform herself into an advocate against cyber bullying has given Republicans a tantalizing opportunity to call her to the witness stand. Lewinsky has never testified to Congress, despite her role in the impeachment of President Clinton in the 1990s. She appeared only before a federal grand jury in return for immunity. Now, with legislation on cyber bullying percolating in both the House and Senate, Republicans could ask Lewinsky to tell her story on Capitol Hill. 'The prospect of Monica Lewinsky testifying before Congress about cyber bullying would force a national debate,' said a GOP aide who asked not to be named in order to speak more freely. 'She's in a unique position to educate the American public.'" [The Hill]
Good lord, can you even begin to imagine the size of the shit-eating grin on "a GOP aide" as he or she said that?
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CBC GREEN ENERGY WEIRDNESS - Kate Sheppard: "Representatives of an industry group representing electric companies met with staffers for members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday to rally support for efforts to kill solar energy incentives, an attendee said. The meeting, announced in an invitation provided to The Huffington Post, included a briefing by David Owens, the executive vice president of business operations and regulatory affairs for the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade group; Sheri Givens, consultant for Givens Consulting LLC; and Florida state Rep. Joseph Gibbons (D), chair of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators committee on energy, transportation and environment...The speakers argued 'that communities of color are suffering" from policies that benefit "rich people who could afford rooftop solar,' said the attendee, who asked for anonymity so he could speak openly about the session. Between 20 and 25 staffers who work for members of the Congressional Black Caucus attended." [HuffPost]
CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATES SWEATING UDALL REELECTION - Ali Watkins: "Udall, well known as an advocate for government accountability, is clawing for his political life in next month's election, with his zeal for national security reform largely absent from his campaign. That omission may well have helped Republicans gain traction in attacks tying him to the Obama administration. Udall lags his GOP challenger by more than 2 percentage points, according to HuffPost Pollster...It’s examples like that, advocates say, that show what Udall’s departure from the Senate would mean. While Gardener has bludgeoned Udall for alignment with Democrats on topics like health care, Udall's positions on national security may offer a valid defense against accusations of serving as a rubber stamp for President Barack Obama." [HuffPost]
DON YOUNG IS THE MOST DON YOUNG-Y PERSON ALIVE - He was always overshadowed by Uncle Ted, but Young might easily be the most cantankerous coot to ever be barfed onto the scene by Alaska's political establishment. Sam Levine: "An Alaska high school student said he and his classmates were stunned by Rep. Don Young's (R-Alaska) insensitive comments during a school assembly Tuesday and thinks the congressman’s apology was insincere. Zachary Grier, 17, a senior at Wasilla High School, asked Young during the assembly why he still opposed same-sex marriage, even after a court struck down Alaska's ban on same-sex unions. Young responded by asking Grier, 'What do you get when you have two bulls having sex?' When Grier answered that he didn’t know, Young told him: 'A whole lot of bull.' Grier said his principal cut the assembly short after his question. Many teachers later thanked him for pressing Young." [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some animals making out.
BUILD THE DANGED TOURIST/TERRORIST CAPITOL FENCE - We must keep Ebola/terrorists/ISIS out of the Capitol. Roll Call: "The idea of building a security fence around the Capitol appears just as unpopular now as it was a decade ago, when then-Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer pitched the idea to Congress...Gainer, who retired from his post as Senate sergeant-at-arms in the spring, is again talking about erecting a “tasteful fence” about a block around the Capitol that would allow people to get screened before entering the campus, but current law enforcement officials aren’t commenting and elected officials aren’t biting. In a briefing Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters he would defer to the Capitol Police for those kind of assessments. He talked about the difficulty of preserving the executive mansion as the 'people’s house' where thousands of tourists visit on a daily basis, while safeguarding the first family." [Roll Call]
COMFORT FOOD
- A mashup of every death in the original "Star Wars" trilogy.
- Characters and props from "Star Wars" photoshopped into moody black & white real photographs of real life.
- A guide to all of Larry David's appearances in "Seinfeld."
- Stanley Kubrick's 1949 photographs of Chicago.
TWITTERAMA
@suzykhimm: Congrats to all of the newly minted infectious disease experts and epidemiologists of Twitter! Let's have your gut instinct make policy now.
@darth: “I AM GOING TO …oh..oh, nm” MT @jbendery: New security features at WH fence: new "do not enter” signs
@ericawerner: If we could defeat Ebola by boring it to death, this House hearing might do the trick
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