President Obama passed the buck to the Secret Service — why won’t he accept blame for not keeping himself safe? A Republican lawmaker suggested the White House replace the Secret Service with ADT, though it could save taxpayers money by simply putting an ADT sign on the north lawn. And the first case of Ebola in the United States was diagnosed. Thanks, Obamacare. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, September 30th, 2014:
UGH EBOLA'S HERE - Hide the beer, party over. CNBC: "The United States has its first confirmed case of the Ebola virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday, marking the first domestic appearance of the deadly virus that has ravaged swaths of continental Africa. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas officials said in a statement earlier Monday that an unnamed patient was being tested for Ebola and had been placed in 'strict isolation due to the patient's symptoms and recent travel history." [CNBC]
The American Federation of Teachers is getting ready to spend the most money its ever spent on an election cycle, Amanda Terkel reports.
GOOFBALLS WILL TAKE ANOTHER SWING AT JOHN BOEHNER - The speaker laughs at their attempts, but not in his usual benign "those chuckleheads" kind of way. Matt Fuller: "Lawmakers and aides say Boehner has improved his position in the GOP conference since the start of 2013, when 12 Republicans surprised the Ohio Republican on the floor by refusing to vote for him as speaker. That 2013 coup attempt went nowhere, but the anti-Boehner effort in the new 114th Congress is counting on reinforcements. At least five conservatives likely to win in November already say they’re apt to support someone else for speaker. Several current members — Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas — openly admit they won’t support Boehner. And even members who support the speaker acknowledge he will face opposition." [Roll Call]
D.C. mayor Vince Gray announced Tuesday that city government workers can have eight weeks of paid family leave starting tomorrow. That beats the six weeks available to White House workers.
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Al Kamen and Spencer Hsu with the latest on Larry Craig, who needs Lanny Davis now more than ever: "A federal judge Tuesday ordered former senator Larry 'Wide Stance' Craig (R-Idaho) to pay the U.S. Treasury $242,000 for improperly using campaign funds to pay for his legal defense after a 2007 sex-sting arrest in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Craig incurred the legal costs after seeking to withdraw his guilty plea to one count of disorderly conduct at the airport during a layover from a return flight to Washington from his home." [WashPost]
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
SECRET SERVICE GETS A GOOD TALKIN' TO - And they don't even have a contingency plan for when John Malkovich build a wooden gun. The Hill: "Secret Service Director Julia Pierson accepted full responsibility Tuesday for a serious breach of White House security that has undermined confidence in her agency across Washington. Lawmakers in both parties expressed dismay that a man with a knife was able to dash through the president’s house, with Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) arguing that agents should have used deadly force to stop the intruder, who authorities say was Omar J. Gonzalez...Pierson confirmed to lawmakers that the intruder, who scaled the White House fence on Sept. 19, made it farther into the building than previously reported and was not apprehended until he was outside the Green Room. Gonzalez is charged with trespassing and carrying a deadly weapon...House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) warned that the next ambush on the White House could be more dangerous. 'Americans know that the next attempt to take the White House may not come from a crazed, solo, knife-wielding veteran with PTSD,' Issa said. 'It could well be a planned attack from a terrorist organization.'" [The Hill]
HOUSE MEMBER RESPONDS TO PRESIDENT'S ENDANGERMENT WITH STUNTS - Mike McAuliff: "With the Secret Service under intense congressional scrutiny for a series of security breaches, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) had a suggestion Tuesday: an off-the-rack home security system for the White House.. In the latest incursion, a man jumped the White House fence earlier this month, and managed to get deep inside the building before being tackled. But in a hearing of the House Oversight Committee, Mica pointed to another revelation that, in 2011, the Secret Service didn't realize the president's home had been struck by bullets until a housekeeper found broken glass. After investigating the incident, the Secret Service incorrectly determined the shots were a backfiring vehicle. Mica said he was perplexed that the Secret Service could miss things that even his own alarm system at home would have detected." [HuffPost]
Mica really dug his joke: "We could put some vegetation barriers, simple things like, how about Spanish bayonet?" he continued, "You jump that fence and you get quite a greeting when you hit the ground."
ANOTHER SECRET SERVICE GOOF - Susan Crabtree: "The Secret Service allowed a security breach during President Obama's visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Sept. 16….The incident, which took place three days before an intruder jumped a fence and sprinted inside the White House, involved a failure in Secret Service advance work to prevent an armed man from coming into close proximity with Obama while he was visiting the CDC to receive a briefing about the Ebola threat." It turned out to be a rude CDC officer. [Examiner]
Ryan Grim hung out with Julian Assange the other day.
ISIS CAMPAIGN COST NEARING $1BILLION - Amanda Terkel: "The U.S. military operations targeting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria have already cost taxpayers between $780 and $930 million, according to an analysis by an independent think tank. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments issued a new report Monday assessing how much the military campaign has already cost (through Sept. 24) and how much more will likely be spent in the coming months. CSBA estimates that if the current pace of operations continues, the United States could spend between $200 and $320 million a month, in a conservative estimate assuming a 'moderate level of air operations and 2,000 deployed ground forces.'" [HuffPost]
HI, FRIENDS! MITT ROMNEY IS BACK! - Liebovich: "Romney, for his part, is noticeably playing along. He recently told a radio host that he was not planning on running for president but allowed that 'circumstances can change.' A recent column by the conservative pundit Byron York noted that Romney had kept in close contact with many of his advisers and aides. As we spoke, Romney compared the barrage of 2016-related questions to a scene in the film 'Dumb and Dumber.' After Jim Carrey’s character is flatly rejected by Lauren Holly, she tells him that there’s a one-in-a-million chance she would change her mind. 'So,' Romney told me, embodying the character, 'Jim Carrey says, ‘You’re telling me there’s a chance.’' This was the obvious opening for me to ask if there was a chance. Romney’s response was decidedly meta — 'I have nothing to add to the story' — but he then fell into the practiced political parlance of nondenial. 'We’ve got a lot of people looking at the race,' he said. 'We’ll see what happens.'" [NYT]
Not so fast: "I respect Romney, but have the queasy feeling that Romney ‘16 would be a reprise of Dewey ‘48," Weekly Standard editor and former Romney champion Bill Kristol said in an emai to BuzzFeed's Ben Smith.
A man is liable to pull a muscle with this kind of contorting: "Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who is running for Senate, continues to insist that he doesn't consider the fetal personhood bill he cosponsored to be a fetal personhood bill. In a preview of an interview with reporter Eli Stokols set to air Sunday on Fox 31 Denver, Gardner says three times that 'there is no federal personhood bill,' when asked why he remains a cosponsor of the Life At Conception Act, which would grant full legal rights to fetuses from the moment of fertilization. Gardner, who disavowed his prior support for fetal personhood at the state level, attempted in the interview to differentiate between state-based ballot initiatives and the federal legislation." [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a gullible dog.
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON CALLS BULLSHIT - Please save your energy for the legalized weed initiative. "Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton didn’t like the lay of the land during a Monday stroll down Pennsylvania Avenue. 'On my visit to the White House perimeter this morning, I saw the ugly barriers that keep people a few feet from the fence, with signs affixed to the barriers that said ‘Police Line, Do Not Cross,’' the D.C. Democrat said in a statement released on the eve of a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Secret Service protocol. Since Omar J. Gonzalez scaled the north fence on Sept. 19 and ran 70 yards to the unlocked front doors of the White House, the House GOP has been increasingly critical of the agency. New revelations reported by The Washington Post on Sunday, including that it took four days to realize gunfire had struck the White House in 2011, have raised fresh concern. Meanwhile, District officials fear new policies that could be detrimental to D.C." [Roll Call]
COMFORT FOOD
- After Courtney Love refused to pay her sound technician, he uploaded her isolated tracks from a live show. They... aren't good.
- A feature on what happens when your pet goes viral.
- Dogs eating peanut butter.
- Jeff Goldblum's new ad for GE ishilariously uncomfortable.
TWITTERAMA
@randygdub: Obama proclaims 'zombie movie law' meaning if someone in your family gets Ebola, you're allowed to tearfully shoot them
@michaelwhitney: ok which one of you assholes is going to use “Ebola” in a fundraising subject line now
@pourmecoffee: Obama should use "sandwich feedback" with Secret Service: "nice sunglasses, guard the f--ing White House, cool earbuds. I went to seminar.
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e