Sequester Shocker: It Feels Like Nothing's Changed

It's been over a month since the automatic federal spending cuts
known as "the sequester" kicked in and Reason TV's Kennedy reports
from the suddenly-mean streets of Washington, D.C.

Before sequestration began on March 1, President Barack
Obama warned that budget trims of up to $85 billion in 2013 would
force brutal and devastating shutdowns of programs related to
everything from vaccination to school
lunches. The director of the National
Zoo told
the Washington Post he feared he might have to shut
down popular exhibits featuring lions and tigers. 

Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano told
travelers to expect much longer lines at airports
due to cuts for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
The White House even
cancelled tours of the president's home.

So just how brutal is post-sequester life in the nation’s
capital now that as much as 2 percent of annual federal spending is
on the chopping block?

About 2 minutes. Produced by Joshua Swain. Written by Kennedy
and Nick Gillespie.

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For Reason's coverage of sequestration, go here.

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Sequestration Cuts Mean Unemployment For Workers At Washington Nuclear Site

When Travis Stephens first heard the word "sequestration," he thought it was nothing to worry about.

"They said the sequestration -- they talked about it a year ago and everybody said it will never get to that," Stephens said. "It's pretty frustrating. I don't fully understand it."

Stephens said that he doesn't pay much attention to politics, but he does know the regular budgeting process has been dysfunctional during the years of Barack Obama's presidency and that sequestration is a symptom of that dysfunction. The cuts kicked in last month and forced the federal government to find $85 billion worth of savings this year. Now Stephens is out of a job.

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North Korea Missile Plan Targets Washington, Los Angeles, Austin and Hawaii

The United States sent two
nuclear-capable B-2 bombers to the Korean Peninsula
yesterday in response to North Korea shutting down the military
hotline with South Korea on
Wednesday. Today, North Korea responded
by announcing it was preparing a missile strike plan against the
United States. A photo (at right)
released by the North Korean newspaper Rodang
 appears to identify Washington, DC, California, Austin, Texas
and Hawaii as targets. Leon Panetta, then the U.S. Secretary of
Defense, said
last April that America was “within an inch of war” with North
Korea and had to be careful about what it says and does that might
escalate the situation. Tensions have been rising since North
Korea’s latest round of missile tests began
last December. Earlier this month the totalitarian regime
declared the Korean War armistice signed nearly sixty years ago

null and void, something it had most recently done in 2009, and
six times since 1994.

The White House, for its part, responded today by saying the
U.S.
would not be intimidated and can defend itself and its allies.
However, as Ron Paul noted
earlier this week, some U.S. actions, like the public military
exercises and the push at the UN for new sanctions are helping
exacerbate the situation. North Korea has just one real ally on the
planet, China, and even that is barely so. Its reactions to tension
over the last few months have been to tell North Korea, or North
Korea and South Korea, as the case may be, to
simmer down. Russia’s foreign minister, meanwhile, warned today
of a “vicious circle” that could
spiral out of control. That’s highly unlikely. Instead, North
Korea’s saber-rattling, and the Western response to it, fulfills
the need Kim Jong Un has for attention and for an external enemy to
use as a scapegoat for the self-inflicted decades-long tragedy that
is North Korean society.

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