John Boehner called Ted Cruz a "jackass," marking the start of a monthslong drama that will one day be known as "The Jackass Government Shutdown." Donald Trump denied that he wears a toupee, even bowing his head so a woman could inspect the elaborate swooping combover that is actually much uglier than a toupee. Trump then threw a copy of the New York Times up in the air, adding the Grey Lady to the long list of women he's publicly mistreated. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Thursday, August 27th, 2015:
TIME TO THINK ABOUT THE DEBT CEILING - Blowing the debt ceiling, that's the thinking man's version of shutting down the government. Sam Stein on the deadline, which is around the corner: "[T]he mixture of an ongoing presidential campaign -- which encourages lawmakers to play to their base -- and the itching for more spending cuts from conservative groups suggests it won't pass without drama. 'Leadership constantly refers to the need to rein in mandatory spending,' said Dan Holler, the communications director for Heritage Action for America. 'If they do not use the debt limit as an opportunity to enact those policies – policies that are embedded in their bicameral budget – then they have no credibility on the issue.'" Yay. [HuffPost]
OBAMA SPEAKS ON KATRINA - From moments ago: "Thousands of people saw their homes destroyed. Livelihoods wiped out. Hopes and dreams shattered. Many scattered in an exodus to cities across the country. And too many still haven't returned. Those who stayed and lived through that epic struggle, still feel the trauma sometimes of what happened… Here in New Orleans a city that embodies a celebration of life, suddenly seemed devoid of life. A place once defined by color and sound, the second line down the street, the crawfish boils in backyards, the music in the air, suddenly was dark and silent. And the world watched in horror. We saw those rising waters drown the iconic streets of New Orleans. Families stranded on rooftops, bodies in the streets. Children crying, crowded in the Superdome. An American city dark and under water. And this was something that was supposed to never happen here. Maybe some place else, but not here, not in America. And we came to realize what started out as a natural disaster became a man-made disaster. A failure of government to look out for its own citizens."
WAR ON WOMEN ALERT - Samantha Lachman: "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called out some of the 2016 Republican contenders for their reproductive health views and policies in a particularly stark fashion Thursday, as she compared them to 'terrorist groups.' At a campaign event in Cleveland, Clinton criticized former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. She pointed out that Rubio said he wouldn't support exceptions to an abortion ban for victims of rape and incest, that Bush said Planned Parenthood should be defunded and that Kasich banned state funds from going toward rape crisis centers because they sometimes refer women to abortion clinics. 'Now extreme views on women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups, we expect that from people who don't want to live in the modern world, but it's a little hard to take coming from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States,' she said." [HuffPost]
CSI PLANNED PARENTHOOD - Sarah Ferris: "Along with the information about its program, Planned Parenthood sent a report it commissioned that it says proves the anti-abortion campaign distorted footage of its officials to falsely accuse them of illegal activity. The report, which was completed by research firm Fusion GPS, analyzed 12 hours of video and found dozens of splices that were intended to manipulate conversations. 'The short tapes are severely edited in ways that are definitely misleading and intended for the purpose of advocacy,’ said Glenn Simpson, a partner at Fusion GPS who analyzed the tapes. The firm evaluated lighting and audio to find where the video had been pieced together.” [The Hill]
HUGE LABOR RELATIONS RULING - You want some rights with that? Dave Jamieson explains: "McDonald's, Burger King and every other company that relies on a franchise business model just suffered the legal setback they've been fearing for years. The National Labor Relations Board ruled on Thursday that Browning Ferris Industries, a waste management company, qualifies as a 'joint employer' alongside one of its subcontractors. The decision effectively loosens the standards for who can be considered a worker's boss under labor law, and its impact will be felt in any industry that relies on franchising or outsourcing work. McDonald's, for instance, could now find itself forced to sit at the bargaining table with workers employed by a franchisee managing one of its restaurants. That's a big deal. In the case of McDonald's, roughly 90 percent of its locations are actually run by franchisees, who are typically considered the workers' employers. One of the main reasons companies choose to franchise or to outsource work to staffing agencies is to shift workplace responsibilities onto someone else. But if a fast-food brand or a hotel chain can be deemed a 'joint employer' along with the smaller company, it can be dragged into labor disputes and negotiations that it conveniently wouldn't have to worry about otherwise." [HuffPost]
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A GUN CONTROL ADVOCATE IS BORN - Andy Parker, father of Alison Parker, one of the two Virginia journalists killed Wednesday, said he will do everything in his power to get stricter gun laws on the books, during an interview on Fox News. Parker said: "I'm going to do something, whatever it takes, to get gun legislation, to shame people, to shame legislators into doing something about closing loopholes and background checks, and making sure crazy people don’t get guns. This is not the last you’ve heard of me. This is something that is Alison's legacy that I want to make happen." Amanda Terkel has more here, writing that Parker vowed to become the "John Walsh of gun control" and force "coward" politicians into action. [HuffPost]
BOEHNER BURNS CRUZ - "Jackass" is a Boehner insult. "Shithead," on the other hand, is a Boehner term of endearment. Alex Pappas: "Speaker of the House John Boehner stunned audience members Wednesday evening at a Colorado fundraiser by referring to Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz as a 'jackass,' two people in attendance tell The Daily Caller. At a Steamboat Springs event for GOP Rep. Scott Tipton, the Ohio Republican quipped that he likes how Cruz’s presidential campaign keeps 'that jackass' out of Washington, and from telling Boehner how to do his job." [Daily Caller]
Donald Trump opened his burn book on Jeb Bush, per Philip Rucker and Robert Costa: "Let me ask you: Why would you pay a man $1.3 million a year for a no-show job at Lehman Brothers?" Not the worst question.
SPEAKING OF INEXPLICABLE FINANCE JOBS - @politico: #Breaking: Eric Cantor, former House majority leader, will endorse Jeb Bush on Thursday
JOURNALIST ASKS REAL QUESTION, WORLD STUNNED - Because Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow were super objective. Gabriel Arana talked to Fusion producer Dax Tejera: “Jorge Ramos and his producer at Fusion, Dax Tejera, had tried for months to score an interview with Donald Trump. After coming up empty, they decided to fly to Iowa to catch the Republican presidential candidate at Wednesday’s press conference. 'In 30 years of covering dictatorships and corruption and things all across the Americas, he’s never been ejected from a press conference,' Tejera said. 'We did not go in thinking that it was within the realm of possibility that we’d be thrown out for asking questions.'" [HuffPost]
TRUMP SWEARS - Perfect item by Bill Barrow, in its entirety: "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says his trademark hairdo is for real. He told 1,800 people in South Carolina Thursday: 'It's my hair ... I swear.' The billionaire developer waved a copy of The New York Times shortly after taking the stage, saying the newspaper accused him of wearing a toupee. Then he called a woman onstage from a front table and instructed her to tug on his hair. As she pulled, he asked her to confirm that it's real. She said, 'I do believe it is,' to laughter and applause, and Trump tossed his copy of the Times into the crowd. Trump leads most polls of GOP primary voters." Nailed it! [Associated Press]
ASHLEY MADISON’S NEW SLOGAN: LIFE IS SHORT, BE LIKE BILL CLINTON Sam Biddle: “A billionaire hedge fund investor and GOP donor who publicly mocked Hillary Clinton this year for being married to ‘a liar and a cheat’ had an account on the cheating site Ashley Madison, according to data released by hackers calling themselves the Impact Team. The name and email address of Dan Loeb, founder of hedge fund Third Point LLC and prominent contributor to the Romney campaign, appear in the company’s database of users, and Loeb confirmed in a statement to Gawker that the account is authentic.” [Gawker]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Excellent landscape photos.
DONE WITH DONALD - Charles Blow says he's finally fed: "Maybe I should have been done the one and only time I ever met Trumpand his first words to me were a soliloquy about how black people loved him, and he was the most popular white man among black people." Maybe. [NYT]
COMFORT FOOD
- Macklemore is back to tells us why we should all be riding mopeds.
- This kid is now a middle school legend.
- The "I Can’t Feel My Face" cover we’ve all been waiting for.
- A beginner’s guide to Cockney rhyming slang.
TWITTERAMA
@elisefoley: Things that Trump says are beautiful: border walls, Humvees, the women he’s slept with, the airport in Qatar…what am I missing?
@danacbell: When is Taylor swift bringing Bernie sanders on stage tho
@owillis: no lie id like to hear trump read a children's book.
@EvanMcSan: we need a word for that thing where out of nowhere you get this sick feeling that twitter is a complete waste of time and then tweet anyway
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