"In 2013, the dubious prize went to President Obama for his widely derided claim that, "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it....Ironically, all three runners-up slots in PolitiFact's roundup went to Republicans for their own statements on Obamacare." There's nothing ironic about it. Both major parties are full of BS. People need to stop voting for them.

'LIE OF THE YEAR' (The Huffington Post)

Fact-checking website PolitiFact is out with the latest edition of its "Lie of the Year." In 2013, the dubious prize went to President Obama for his widely derided claim that, "If you like your health care plan, you can keep it."

I, personally, don't really get excited about the flag, and Amendment I trumps all. But it's worth noting that the official, "legal" flag etiquette, the flag code, says the POTUS can set any rule they want for display of the flag. ("Any rule or custom pertaining to the display of the flag...may be altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect thereto may be prescribed, by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable...") And similar orders were issued for Winston Churchill and Pope John Paul II, so it's rare but not unprecedented. So this is 100% ignorant jackassery, quite likely with a current of racism, not patriotism.

South Carolina Sheriff Refuses To Lower Flag For Mandela (Talking Points Memo)

Rick Clark, the sheriff of Pickens County, S.C., vowed on Friday to defy President Obama's order that U.S. flags be lowered to half staff in honor of deceased South African leader Nelson Mandela.
Clark made his promise in a Facebook post to keep flying the flag at the Pickens County Sheriff's Office at full height.

"Cheney's staunch resistance to the Anti-Apartheid Act arose as an issue during his future campaigns on the presidential ticket, but the Wyoming Republican has never said he regretted voting the way he did. In fact, in 2000, he maintained that he'd made the right decision."

Dick Cheney Didn't Regret His Vote Against Freeing Nelson Mandela, Maintained He Was A 'Terrorist' (The Huffington Post)

In 1986, Nelson Mandela -- the former president of South Africa who died Thursday at the age of 95 -- was serving the 23rd year of what would ultimately be a 27-year prison sentence. The Western world was finally acknowledging the true horrors of Apartheid, a system of racial segregation that denied basic rights to blacks -- including citizenship and the right to vote -- and brutally oppressed a generation of South Africans fighting for equality.

In the U.S. Congress, lawmakers were ready to show their opposition to the South African regime with the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, a bill that called for tough sanctions and travel restrictions on the nation and its leaders, and for the repeal of apartheid laws and release of political prisoners like Mandela, then leader of the African National Congress (ANC).

Unarmed suicidal mentally ill guy frightens incompetent cops. Cops shoot bystanders. City essentially charges mentally ill guy with the shooting. Pretty much everything wrong with our mental health care system and our police system, right there in one crappy story.

Unarmed Man Is Charged With Wounding Bystanders Shot by Police Near Times Square

The Manhattan district attorney’s office says the man was responsible for the wounds two women suffered when the police shot at him.

It's just one guy in a very tiny election, but I get a hoot out of the idea of the Return of the Whigs. (Not endorsing them, BTW, but almost any alternative to the current major parties is a welcome sight.)

Philadelphians Elect First Whig Since 19th Century (NPR.org)

After winning an election on a platform of pragmatism and compromise, Robert "Heshy" Bucholz, 39, is set to become what many believe will be the first Whig to hold elected office in Philadelphia since before the Civil War. A member of the upstart Modern Whig Party, Bucholz won the post of judge of elections in one of the city's wards.

I'm among those who've gotten a notice that their current health plan will be disappearing thanks to the ACA. And because of the problems with Maryland's exchange, I haven't been able yet to find out my options for replacing it. I am rather ticked with the Obama administration's flat-out lies about how I'd be able to keep my coverage.

Report: Obama administration knew millions would be forced to change insurance (Yahoo News)

Before the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010, President Barack Obama promised Americans they could keep their health care plans if they liked them. But already hundreds of thousands of citizens are receiving notification that their plans are being canceled because they don't comply with the new law, and, according to NBC News, the Obama administration has known for at least three years the cancellations were coming.

While campaigning for health care reform in 2009, Obama went out of his way to make one thing perfectly clear: If you like your current health care plan, you will be able to keep it.

On June 15, 2009, Obama said this: "We will keep this promise to the American people. If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period.”

In 2012, he echoed that sentiment, saying, "“If [you] already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance.”

However, many are finding that not to be the case. More than 300,000 cancellation notices have been sent out in Florida, according to Kaiser Health News, and another 180,000 in California. In New Jersey, the number of cancellations tops 800,000, the Star-Ledger reports.

Former President Carter notes how economic inequality is eroding the middle class:

Carter: Middle class today resembles past's poor (Yahoo Finance)

"The disparity between rich people and poor people in America has increased dramatically since when we started," he said. "The middle class has become more like poor people than they were 30 years ago. So I don't think it's getting any better."

Years of tax breaks for the wealthy, a minimum wage untethered from the inflation rate and electoral districts drawn to maximize political polarization have reduced the quality of life for all but a small fraction of Americans and imperiled the nation's standing as "a real superpower," he said.

"Equity of taxation and treating the middle class with a great deal of attention, providing funding for people in true need, like for affordable housing, those are the sort of things that would pay rich dividends for Americans no matter what kind of income they have," said Carter, looking relaxed in a baseball cap, blue jeans and white sneakers.

"The richest people in America would be better off if everybody lived in a decent home and had a chance to pay for it, and if everyone had enough income even if they had a daily job to be good buyers for the products that are produced."

Slate is starting a new "If It Happened There" feature, where American news will be described using the "tropes and tone" that the U.S. media usually uses to report foreign affairs. Nice.

How Would We Report on the Government Shutdown if It Were Happening in Another Country? (Slate Magazine)

WASHINGTON, United States—The typical signs of state failure aren’t evident on the streets of this sleepy capital city. Beret-wearing colonels have not yet taken to the airwaves to declare martial law. Money-changers are not yet buying stacks of useless greenbacks on the street.

But the pleasant autumn weather disguises a government teetering on the brink. Because, at midnight Monday night, the government of this intensely proud and nationalistic people will shut down, a drastic sign of political dysfunction in this moribund republic.

Another UI failure from Apple. The increased focus on fancy animations in user interfaces is not just distracting and wasteful of time and system resources, but is literally nauseating. And in their usual "Apple knows best" manner, there's no way to turn it off.

Why iOS 7 is making some users sick (the Guardian)

Apple's new mobile operating system for the iPhone and iPad, iOS 7, is stark and minimal, yet dynamic. It makes frequent use of zoom and slide animations; the home screen boasts parallax, with icons apparently floating above subtly animating wallpaper. And it's making people sick.

Triggers and symptoms vary, but TidePool mobile app developer Jenni Leder's experience is not uncommon. A self-professed power-user, she frequently switches apps; but on iOS 7, this has caused headaches and feelings associated with motion sickness. "I now have to close my eyes or cover the screen during transitions, which is ridiculous," she told The Guardian, adding that there's nowhere to hide: "It's not apps that affect me, but accessing them. Tap a folder and the view zooms in. Tap an app and it's like flying through the icon and landing in that app's micro world — and I'm getting dizzy on the journey there."