US News

Shutdown shenanigans

Americans made it through the first day of the government shutdown with a mixture of confusion, defiance, humor and fury.

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Tourists who showed up at the Statue of Liberty ferry dock in Battery Park didn’t take kindly to being offered a cruise around the harbor instead of to Liberty Island.

“There has to be better ways to run a government than to get to a standstill like this,” griped California tourist Cheryl Strahl. “Why take it out on the national parks?”

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The National Zoo’s Pandacam was shut off, causing fans to erupt in outrage.AFP/Getty Images

More than two dozen Nubian goats were shuttled from the national recreation area in Sandy Hook, NJ, where they’d been performing a public service: eating the poison ivy away from old Fort Hancock.
The goats’ owner, who had initially brought them to New Jersey from Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, took the critters back to upstate Rhinebeck, where they live when they’re not working for the government.

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As federal agencies suspended their Internet and social-network activity, citing the lack of government funding, even First Lady Michelle Obama furloughed her personal Twitter handler.

“Due to Congress’ failure to pass legislation to fund the government, updates to this account will be limited. #Shutdown,” @FLOTUS tweeted at around 1:30 pm Tuesday.

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NASA marked its 55th birthday with the largest number of furloughed workers of any agency — 97 percent of its 18,250 staffers were sent home, leaving 594 employees to man Mission Control and other bases and to keep an eye on the two American astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

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More than two dozen Nubian goats were shuttled from the national recreation area in Sandy Hook, NJ, where they’d been eating poison ivy.Tayler Cihanek

Outrage erupted over the shutdown of the National Zoo’s Pandacam, where fans had been transfixed by the progress of mama panda Mei Xiang’s new baby cub, born in August.

The feed went dark at around 8 a.m. Tuesday.

The camera operators “have not been deemed essential,” the zoo said.

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College football fans of Army, Navy and Air Force were beside themselves over the possible cancellation of this weekend’s games.

Air Force has a game slated against Navy in Annapolis, Md., Saturday, while Army is scheduled to play at Boston College.

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The shutdown even canceled a Ku Klux Klan rally. The racist group was told by National Park officials that its permit for a planned Saturday “First Amendment” demonstration at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania couldn’t take place because of the closure.

Gettysburg has rescinded all permits for special events, according to the agency.