IRS SCANDAL: To Break The IRS Wall of Silence.

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: Fired-Up GOP Rep. Jim Jordan Dresses Down Top IRS Official at Center of ‘Two of the Biggest Issues This Country Has Dealt With in Recent History.’

PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR AN OPEN THREAD, SO HERE’S ONE. Chatter away in the comments.

CBS’S JAN CRAWFORD: ObamaCare Rollout “Nothing Short of Disastrous.”

PRESIDENT ASTERISK: White House, IRS exchanged confidential taxpayer info.

Top Internal Revenue Service Obamacare official Sarah Hall Ingram discussed confidential taxpayer information with senior Obama White House officials, according to 2012 emails obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and provided to The Daily Caller.

Lois Lerner, then head of the IRS Tax Exempt Organizations division, also received an email alongside White House officials that contained confidential information.

If this were a Republican administration, there’d be impeachment talk on every nightly news program.

And, from last week: Study finds IRS suppression of Tea Party swung 2012 election.

MICKEY KAUS: PELOSI LOVES GERRYMANDERING:

Finally: It sure seems as if a few years ago, when people in California tried to make an issue out of gerrymandering, the sophisticated position was to pooh-pooh the harm it causes. After all, nonpartisan line-drawing would only “make a few more legislative seats more competitive,” according to a 2005 NYT op-ed. People were sorting themselves out geographically and there was no way to force them into competitive districts. Give it up, goo-goos!

Could this attitude have had something to do with the support for gerrymandering from Nancy Pelosi and the California Democratic party, which benefitted from the party-manipulated lines in that huge state? Pelosi beat the anti-gerrymandering initiative in 2005, with the help of $4 million from Clinton buddy Steve Bing. Reformers came back with a modified anti-gerrymandering scheme for state offices in 2008. Pelosi fought that too, but it squeaked by with 50.8% of the vote. In 2010 big Democratic donors came out in force to try to prevent nonpartisan redistricting from being extending to Congressional races–even sponsoring a competing initiative designed to confuse the voters. Look at the list of contributors–Soros, Saban, AFSCME. the teachers’ union, they’re all there (except Bing).

Now, of course, gerrymandering (to produce safe seats) is Democrats’ favored villain when it comes to explaining why today’s Congressional Republicans are so wild and fearless about the consequences. . . . Democratic writers turn naturally to gerrymandering as the explanation because it suggests that the Republican House majority is somehow illegitimate, the product of illicit backroom skullduggery rather than elections. . . . But line-drawing is no more a factor in producing safe seats now than it was in 2005–probably less, since the decades-long process of voluntary sorting into blue and red areas has presumably continued apace. And if the problem is that Dems congregate in urban districts of their own volition, then the fearless Republican majority is only partly the result of partisan line drawing. Ezra Klein has a reasonable, nuanced discussion of the topic today on Wonkblog, though his site’s new, dumber doppelganger, KnowMore, just blames gerrymandering.

Dumber? Sheesh.

HENRY MILLER: Race, Medicine, and Political Correctness.

SPYING: GoDaddy Pulls Lavabit’s Security Creds Because The FBI Got Ahold Of Its Encryption Keys.

NOW EVEN THE ESTABLISHMENT LEFTIES ARE LOSING THEIR SHIT: The Atlantic Magazine Calls for Arrest of Speaker Boehner.

You know, I wasn’t sure about this whole government shutdown thing, but so far I’m finding it mightily amusing.

TRAIN WRECK: Charles Cooke: Obamacare’s Broken Promises Pile Up.

CRACKS IN THE COALITION: Eleanor Holmes Norton confronts Obama on D.C. budget bill. First Mayor Gray and Harry Reid, now this.

NEW DEALS AT THE Amazon Fall Outlet Event.

Plus, Amazon’s most popular coupon deals.

Also, Warehouse Deals in Sporting Goods.

THE CHICAGO WAY, IN NYC? After an Introduction by de Blasio, a Brooklyn Hospital Hired His Wife. “During his eight years on the Council, he had advocated for millions of dollars in city money for the hospital, Maimonides Medical Center. Maimonides did not have a job open for Mr. de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray. So it created one.”

Gee, this story of insider corruption and cronyism sounds kinda . . . familiar somehow.

T-MOBILE INTRODUCES unlimited foreign text and data.

I THINK SOUL MATES ARE MADE, NOT FOUND: The Soul Mate Myth.

MAYBE THIS IS WHY OBAMA’S ACTING SO PETULANT AND UPSET: Ted Cruz poll shows GOP gained in fight over Obamacare despite shutdown. “Obama’s job approval rating was 45 percent; his disapproval was 52 percent. 67 percent said Obamacare was the ‘major reason’ for the government shutdown.”

I wonder what Obama’s polls are saying?

UPDATE: Dems Lose Lead In Generic Congressional Ballot.

KATIE ROIPHE: Was the saga of Colin McGinn really a clear-cut case of sexual harassment? “By the accounts of at least three people familiar with the investigation, the university chose not to pursue charges of sexual harassment after reviewing the evidence.”

Well, what’s the rule? Oh, right — even if it wasn’t sexual harassment, it was good that a man was punished because it raises consciousness, or something.

ANN ALTHOUSE ON THE NEW CONVENTIONS OF SCIENCE. “A headline at Slate marks the emergence of a new rule in reporting on scientific studies: Where a difference is shown between gay and straight people, portray what is true of gay people to be better.”

WELL, WHAT WERE THEY GOING TO DO? IT’S NOT LIKE THEY WERE ALLOWED TO HAVE GUNS. Lost in Smartphones, SF Train Passengers Didn’t Notice the Gunman Until He Pulled the Trigger.

INSTAVISION: An interview with Milton Wolf, tea party activist, radiologist and distant relative of President Obama — and now, a candidate for the Senate. Dr. Wolf announced his primary challenge against GOP Sen. Pat Roberts on October 8^th.

In the latest Instavision, Wolf tells me why he’s opposed to Obamacare, and why he wants to replace Roberts.  A YouTube Clip will be available shortly.

TOM MAGUIRE: New York Times Coverage Of Potential Default Even Worse Than You’d Expect.

NEWS FROM BLOOMBERGISTAN: NYPD cop arrested in motorcycle-SUV assault case. “An off-duty, undercover police detective was arrested as fallout from a burst of motorcyclist mayhem reached a new level, with investigators saying the off-duty officer was shown on video hitting and kicking an SUV before bikers attacked its driver.”

HISTORY: The Night Johnny Carson Found Out His Wife Was Banging Frank Gifford. I always liked Johnny Carson, but I don’t think he was much of a husband.

WOLF BLITZER: Hey, Maybe The GOP’s Right About Delaying ObamaCare.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: When Partners Leave Polyamorous Families With Children.