* Fox News: "It's more of a slimdown than a shutdown." * Veterans break down barricades at WWII Memorial, plan more shutdown disobedience. * Which government employees are required to take unpaid leave and which ones have to stay, in one tidy graph. * The reason Congress members get paid—
Driving from Lebanon toward Syria, across the Saudi Arabian desert to Dammam, in a taxi among the refugees of Beirut—quickly becomes the Wild West.
* Many parallels found between the last 48 hours in D.C. and a traditional Hollywood Western. * Additional "really top-notch commies" added to Washington Post's list of America's top communists. * Behind-the-scenes report from the sale of the Washington Post to Amazon.com&
* With all the attention on Syria and Iran, Egypt has slipped under Washington's radar. * Government shutdown bewilders other countries. * The government has "shut down" 17 times since 1976—we should stop calling it a "shutdown." * What the shutdown means for you: "Any attempt
Radio advertising has gotten ridiculous—incendiary spots for monster-truck rallies and ladies’ nights at clubs. But surely the most appalling ads are for brunch.
* Kentucky governor tells Republicans to "get over" Obamacare. * Parsing the doublespeak around the government shutdown uncovers triple negations and results in headaches. * With the shutdown edging nearer, Republicans lay the groundwork for avoiding blame. * The Heritage Foundation's 1980 Mandate for Leadership proposed universal health care and
* Gun ownership among women has doubled in the past year; advocacy groups teach defense-based target practice and firearm safety. * See also: A childhood ban on toy guns didn’t erase death from a group of friends, but it changed their view of mortality. * Running away to China to learn
When an artist receives a heart transplant, his drawings of the procedure acquire all the gravity of a fever dream—intensely realistic, with hallucinations of the dead.
* George Will on Republicans' lame attempt to defund Obamacare: "Those people who are best at deceiving others first deceive themselves." * Related: Man who understands 8% of Obamacare vigorously defends it from man who understands 5%. * An estimated 12 workers will die every week during Qatar's
* Al-Qaeda now controls more territory and can call on more fighters than at any time since bin Laden created the organization. * Interactive guide shows what today's report about climate change means for temperature rises in your lifetime. * Black Friday as we know it is a moribund tradition,
