How are you enjoying the government shutdown?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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My agency is still operating with left over funds. They will last about 3-4 weeks, maybe less (maybe more but I doubt it). In 2013 they began furloughing people after a week (the contractors), then moved to the low, low level people at the 2-3 week mark. If it went to 4-5 weeks I’d have been furloughed. I suspect the same timeline this time.
Given the dynamics of the disagreements at hand, I could see it lasting 10 minutes if Trump gets bored/tricked (or hopefully just ignored), or potentially the longest shutdown in modern history.
Best of luck. We have been told that we will be “mostly” unaffected… but of course time will tell.
Totally unaffected. I drove home from one of the offices I support (this one in Iowa) yesterday (Saturday), didn’t realize overall the gubmint was shutdown.
Our funding stream is called “contract authority”, so isn’t touched by this. It’s ironic because my sub-agency of 2800 people could all not go into work Monday and the country wouldn’t miss anything.
I’m breathing a sigh of relief, not because of missing a couple of days pay for work but that I’ve got a crapton of things to do as a result of last week’s trip.
I’m not impressed with Schumer’s negotiating skills this time around.
It depends if you wanted the shutdown or not.
Trump wanted it because he loves churlish tantrums and destructive acts, and pissing people off (that’s what he’s there to do, as both he and and his supporters see it; it’s very WWF).
I admit I’ve taken a sort of irresponsible Ralph-Nader-for-president-in-2000 view where I want failure because I can’t imagine a more urgent global priority than getting this gang out of power as fast as possible, and the less effective and more internally combative they are, the more likely that becomes.
Isn’t it just as likely that white nationalist John Kelly nixed this “deal” regarding the wall because he knows it will never be built and wants actual effective ethnic cleansing measures? The wall for DACA from this point of view is Trump giving away DACA for nothing.
That’s a good point. The “wall” pisses me off so much because it’s such obvious bullshit; a bunch of Santa Claus level nonsense, but both the constituents and, incredibly, Trump himself actually believe in it, so it has to be brought up and discussed by actual adults who are otherwise engaged in having policy discussions.
I mean, don’t be fooled by Trump’s “I’m good at building” braggadocio; he’s got a child’s understanding of everything. People tossing duffel bags full of drugs over; the way it’s supposed to be “see through”; the part where he gets stopped in his tracks when someone mentions mountains or water…he has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about. Which, sure, there are people like that, but he’s the fucking President and we actually have to discuss this fairy tale. It’s not the worst part of all this, but in certain ways it’s the most infuriating.
That’s why his supporters love it. At least half of them know it’s not happening either, but the fact that it’s being discussed as if it can happen in serious deliberations — and the idea that it’s pissing you off — is what gives them all the good feels.
But Kelly doesn’t want feels and thrills up his leg. He wants ethnic cleansing and jackboots. So does Miller. So does Tom Cotton.
As far as I’m concerned if we agreed to his “wall” and removed appropriations for actual security I’d take it. Ones a boondoggle that will never happen and be subject to endless property disputes, the other is effective and kills migrants.
Yeah, exactly. You have, I think, a perfect understanding of the scenario, from both sides.
The wall is a bargaining for Miller and Kelly and is a give away for stronger anti immigration measures, including DACA. Fuck the wall. They are pretty confident they can blame all of this on the Dems.
The Wall ™ is basically a minor infrastructure project. I dont give 2 shits, or even 1 whether it gets funding.
Frankly, and maybe I really am dense, I am surprised that Kelly’s role in all this mischief has been greeted with yawns.
Kelly clearly wields more power than anyone wants to say. And he clearly has more influence than just about anyone else at this point.
This is who’s causing the shutdown. And no one’s talking about it.
This is who’s running the country folks. Maybe someone ought to at least remark on it?
. . . you, f’rinstance. And me. And atrios. And even the fucking NYT (booman’s linked article, though buried in a lot of both-siderist/Dem-blaming blather — just as NPR’s “coverage” was this morning — which, btw, I predicted).
I’m not sure what your criticism is. If you judge by the article, it seems clear that Schumer made a good faith effort to keep the government running, and Trump rebuffed him.
Schumer can’t make a deal if Trump wants to shut things down, and it’s pretty clear that he does. My guess is that Trump thinks he’ll win the battle of public opinion and be able to force painful concessions from the Democrats.
We can debate Schumer’s negotiating skills in a week or so, when everything is said and done. For now, I’m happy he held the line on the Dreamers.
Schumer is Democcratic leadership.
Democratic leadership is always incompetent.
∴ Schumer is incompetent. QED
Plus banksters.
It really isn’t any more complicated than that.
I guess Schumer never personally bought a used car before. While Trump is definitely that sleazy guy with a corner lot full of lemons and big sign saying “Lost your Job? Bankrupt? Your credit is good here! We Finance.” Selling cars good for thirty seconds or thirty feet, whichever comes first.
Does not hurt anyone. In fact the second Trump gets funding for his dang wall Ds have a great talking point – Trump is using your money to steal land from hard working Americans to build a wall he said Mexico would pay for.
There are a lot of nasty eminent domain issues with the wall, especially in West Texas, which is the reason most of the Texas delegation doesn’t support the wall. And the government abusing their powers of eminent domain tick off people in both parties.
Let it go on as long as necessary. I’m enjoying a nice cup of coffee and breakfast with my girl.
Pity not everyone can enjoy the spectacle, unharmed.
https://www.facebook.com/Stonekettle/posts/1576496869052377
I agree, but enough is enough.
The GOP has had months to deal with DACA and CHIP. It looks like, in the case of CHIP, that was deliberate to hang over the Democrats’ head.
The GOP has counted on the Democrats rescuing them the whole time, and so far as I’m concerned enough is enough. As Booman pointed out earlier in the month, the era of no compromise is over. We’ve offered compromises and they were rejected or blown up.
Fuck it. I’m drinking coffee with my girlfriend.
Its unfortunatte but unless dems stand strong (haha) things will continue getting worse. What is better for the country as a whole?
Really though, I think the most likely thing to happen will be some international crisis or natural disaster that forces dems to cave.
How am I enjoying the government shutdown?
Lemme see…
First of all,…it does not exist.
Not really.
If the federal government really shut down, there would be hell to pay all over the country and around the world.
But NOOOOooooo…!!!
Just more posturing and internecine squabbling among the three major parties…The Ratpublicans, the DemRats and the Trumpissters.
I am enjoying it just fine. I am sitting at my usual place at home, drinking fine organic Cuban coffee that I got at CostCo…one of the few truly, heroically successful megamarts in the country…for a ridiculously low price. (Or maybe better, at a fair price instead of the ridiculously high prices charged by retailers in the more gentrified areas of NYC.) I am about to spend my day working at home on musical matters. As I look out of my Bronx window, I see the school across the street is going on about its Saturday business. It looks like the garbage collection is running, and traffic seems to be moving smoothly. The internet seems to be working ok too, as is my cellphone. Electricity and heat? Also fine.
So…nu???
I should get my knickers in a twist over political business as usual in Washingtoon, DC?
Please!!!
Give me a call when members of Congress can’t pick up their paychecks and the post office and banks shut down.
As in…never!!!
This is just more clickbait.
AG
You are so colossally ignorant, it scarcely is worth refuting your bullshit. But here’s just one aspect:
https://www.facebook.com/Stonekettle/posts/1576496869052377
He’s aggressively ignorant — he abrasively bullies the rest of us for not adopting his simplified worldview.
He’s a pure sexist, racist troll now. Engagement doesn’t help. He doesn’t want dialogue.
He wants dialogue insofar as he wants to use us as interchangeable props in his mental puppet show where he rages against the “sheeple” who don’t share his brilliant perception of the “permagov” and the rest of his grotesquely simplified, one-topic worldview.
And it’s got a Trumpian reverse logic because if we disdain him, he preens like a peacock — it’s a “badge of honor” that conventional thinkers like ourselves don’t comprehend his subtlety.
Go ahead, Arthur, call me a DLC stooge or whatever. I see you coming.
I have often considered trolling Arthur back with the fact that his behavior has so many parallels with trumps behavior.
But most of the time i remind myself that its just not worth reacting to the stupid torrent of crap.
The comparison’s been made a few times, actually. He pays it no mind.
I have no idea what Arthur looks like, but every so often when I see marginal-looking figures lurking around a Manhattan Apple Store (as he says he does), I imagine it’s him. I look for a case for his guitar or trombone or whatever salt-of-the-earth, ageless-troubador musical instrument he carries.
You’re letting your obsession get out of control. Get a grip.
It’s a saxophone and he plays regular jazz gigs. Lighten up a little; you’ll enjoy it more.
He is just warning that there is not necessarily going to be the immediate or sure opposition reaction that leads to Democratic victory in November not matter how much rank-and-file Democrats want and need it.
It’s all about when the debt limit is reached. We now will watch how Mick Mulvaney does what Barack Obama did with the expired debt limit four years ago.
Obama’s sought to bring Republicans back to appropriations. Mulvaney seeks to bring Democrats back to sacrificing their constituents’ interests. As long as Mulvaney can defer enough expenditures to keep government activities going without an increase in debt limits, government won’t shut down like it did under Obama. Do not underestimate how the Republicans have gamed the media and their voter turnout.
Communities like this — to the extent that discussion boards on blogs can be called “communities;” I think it’s a stretch to call even far more robust entities like DailyKos “communities” — are fragile things. Gilroy bothers me less because of his limitations (we all have those) than his attitude; his insistence on interrupting and crashing the conversation.
It’s the kind of guileless, unconscious, destructive disrespect that in looser areas of the internet (YouTube, Reddit, etc.) is genuinely an impediment to discourse and enlightenment and compassion and empathy, and all the other things we need to sustain ourselves. BooMan Tribune is important to me, and the presence of a regular troll (even though he does little damage in the long run) is upsetting; its the wolves at the door.
So it’s not just his contrarian political analysis?
Absolutely not! I’ve made that totally clear throughout, every time I’ve attacked him.
There are true contrarians here, like (say) Marie3, who can be irritating, but there’s always a discussion (and, I hasten to add, Marie3 is smart and perceptive and erudite, even though she gets into what I think of as very restrictive, dogmatic thinking patterns).
Gilroy is different. He thinks he’s funny, with his Muppet pictures and John Belushi riffs and pidgin English — this alone indicates a staggering tone-deafness; an inability to read the room, like excruciating amateur standups — but, more important, the self-absorbtion; the doggedness; the adolescent attitude, and the total unwillingness to converse are what infuriate me. (The “bet on it” schtick is just a manifestation of this problem — trying to look like he’s saying something consequential when he’s just repeating the basic facts; like he’s way ahead of us.)
Every so often he calms down and says something reasonable, or smart — which is why he’s so infuriating to me: he can do it once he loses the ridiculous “I’m an artist/free spirit/jester” affectations.
ASG is dishonest, and he argues in bad faith. Either of those are sufficient reasons to ignore him. Throw in the sneering condescension, and the constant use of “wtfu” and “bet on it” as though he, and he alone knows the real deal, and I can see why people lash out.
Downrating and troll rating his comments is childish tho. This ain’t middle school. We should be able to gracefully handle a random asshole.
“…contrarian…”?
Arthur Gilroy is a hard right winger, TarheelDem. He’s a Ron Paul evangelist who has explicitly stated his support for voter ID laws, the ending of unemployment insurance, support for Cliven Bundy, disinterest in enforcing Federal civil right laws, and on and on.
And if you haven’t picked up the fetid stink of racism and sexism in his comments, diaries and choice of photo illustrations, I don’t know what to do for you. I’m sick of the gaslighting on that subject as well.
Agreed. There have been a multitude of comments and if one looks at the words as well as the images over the course of more than a decade, there have been plenty of cringeworthy moments. To say that more than a few posts/diaries had racially and sexually inappropriate content is an understatement. I often wonder how many people stopped commenting or visiting BT altogether as a consequence.
The gaslighting is getting old. Too many people other than us have noticed AG’s behavioral pattern at this point for such efforts to hold much sway. Some serious red lines have been crossed repeatedly with regrettably little in the way of repercussions. It’s sickening, really. To repeat, AG’s behavior goes way beyond merely being contrarian – and as a rule contrarians have typically found plenty of allies – especially those contrarians willing to argue in good faith and respect the basic vibe of this community blog.
Contrarians as a rule have been welcome here. There are several folks who probably could safely be classified as contrarians who offer actual conversation, links to back up points that they wish to make, argue in good faith, and generally still manage to keep with the basic spirit of this blog. Jordan Orlando’s example of Marie3 is quite apt. AG is no contrarian, but is merely trolling for attention by saying the most outrageous things possible – insulting good-standing community members with personal insults and insulting the intelligence of this community at large. Booman may be gun-shy about banning members, and I think I understand some of the history behind that, but I would have banned AG’s ass in a New York minute a long, long time ago, for the greater good of the community. Ultimately that’s not my call to make, for good or (more likely) for ill.
RE:
It’s a 100% accurate description, though.
Garbage collection is NYC, not the Feds. And I remember stinking piles of uncollected garbage on the sidewalks of New York. Smelled like Newark.
I take your point about the “phony war”, but remember the last phony war.
The news is calling this “Schumer’s Shutdown”(Fox) and the meme is that Democrats are shutting down the government to aid illegal immigrants. And/or for partisan gain. Once again the Democratic Party pulls out it’s big guns and shoots itself in the foot.
Can’t understand the troll ratings. People should be used to your style by now. I thinks it’s because you don’t toe the Party Line. You are guilty of thought crime.
Shutdown start slowly and depend on what specific agencies shut down.
Likely first to notice will be people who have business with an IRS office, when the shutdown hits.
Unlike past shutdowns, Trump’s crew will be trying to pay down debt by cutting federal programs against Democrat wishes.
Past shutdowns were by the out-of-the-White-House party through legislative maneuvers in Congress to stop the raising of the debt limit. The Freedom Party never brought the debt limit forward and shut down all efforts for other Republicans to do so. They have no motive in making sure that the shutdown doesn’t hurt so long as it hurts Democratic constituencies.
I anticipate a boiling a frog initative that shuts down the low-hanging fruit that has not already been shut down first, trumpets the amount it adds to the time until the debt limit is reached and moves systematically through the agencies cleaning out programs that Republicans want to see go adding to the accumulating budget flexibility toward meeting the end of September without going to an extension of the debt limit. Then using that “victory” as campaign fodder. With the point that they have not had to touch Social Security. Now the frog gets very comfortable. “He kept his campaign promise.”
But the programs that do get shut down will a demonstrable effects depending on what they are. Some might even affect New York Cities infrastructure unless the State of New York backfills the appropriations that the City needs.
This is not a Gingrich shutdown where Clinton controls the government. It is a Grover Norquist shutdown where his allies control the government. The effects will be specialized instead of generalized, which is how Democratic Presidents write their contingency plans–low initial impact but hitting everyone. And those effects will be targeted toward Democratic constituencies.
The sad thing about this situation is that Trump is more likely to be swayed by having to miss his party at Mar-a-Lago than by any of the real consequences of shutting down the federal government.
I have a hard time believing he’ll want to give his State of the Union while the lights are out in half the buildings in the city.
And the optics of him dining with wealthy donors or golfing at one of his resorts is going to look really bad if Democrats stay in D.C. trying to get a deal to get the country back running.
So the real question is how long can Trump last before he has to take a vacation? I don’t think the shutdown will last much longer than that.
RE:
That’s the longest duration of “work” I could spot between the teevee/twitter/lunch vacations that make up most of his “work” days (which typically start at 11 a.m. — nice “work” if you can get it, I guess!).
. . . “executive time”.
So far, so good. AFAIK, SS and USPS will run indefinitely. Personally, I take my IRA MRD in one lump right after New Year’s Day, so I can run quite a while even if SS and my postal pension shut down. Others are not so fortunate. For the country as a whole, when the Air Traffic Control stops and S-CHIP and and Food Stamps stop coming, business will start grinding to a halt. Echoing AG above, when does Customs and ICE furlough everyone? Soldiers and sailors have no option to walk off their jobs so they have to work without pay and their families suffer. Contractors will keep the Armed Forces supplied and collect their late payment charges from Uncle Sam later. Wall Street banks will lend them the money because they know the loans are good as gold. As usual it is the most vulnerable that will suffer.
Voice…
What you have written here is the perfect recipe for a total breakdown of the system. It sounds almost as if Steve Bannon planned the whole thing, including being “fired.”
Or maybe he just predicted it.
We shall see…
AG
It reminds me of the failure of central government in the late Roman Empire. Government (the Imperial court) was obsessed with plots and rebellions including Roman generals colluding with Persians and East European Huns, Avars and Bulgars ( sound familiar?). The rich refused to pay taxes unless an army appeared at the doors of their fortified estates. Civilian government was so riddled with incompetence and graft that the Emperor had to appoint “Counts” (primarily civil but with military powers) and “Dukes” (primarily military but with broad civil powers) to deal with crises (cf our “Czars”). Presaging the feudal era, land owners and civic leaders swore personal oaths to local strongmen in return for their protection as the central government melted down into factional infighting. Citing one author “As politicians and generals became concerned only with plotting over an increasingly worthless throne.” The Roman Empire didn’t so much fall to external forces as they mugged themselves. This also happened to a few Egyptian Dynasties according to Toynbee but they survived longer because the desert was a barrier to hostile barbarians. The forests of Europe were no barrier and the Romans themselves built roads suitable for the mass movement of armies.
It all started with foreign conquest leading to a class of super-rich that controlled both parties of the Republic including the party nominally in favor of the rights of the common people. Gaius Julius Caesar belonged to that party.
But was personally a patrician. I think you’ve grossly over simplified this (it only got that piont because of climate change and disease and the rise if the Sassanids) but I understand you’re trying to make a point.
He had himself adopted into the plebeian branch of the family for political purposes. Of course, it’s simplified. I’m distilling at least five books about the late Empire alone. And how many volumes of Gibbon and Toynbee are there?
Definitely climate change and disease are factors.
I’m just describing the socio-political situation.
Gibbon’s a fun read, but keep in mind that he was writing over 200 years ago, when history as a discipline was primitive. Today’s scholars would not take his conclusions as authoritative.
Yes, especially his conclusion that Christianity had made the Empire weak from pacifism, because we see that Christians are anything but pacific!
I do enjoy his story about the famous confrontation between Pope Leo I and Attila being a show arranged by payment of 13 wagon-loads of gold to Attila.
Good analysis of the within the worker-bee universe of the federal government’s “essential services”. Why Social Security? Actually touching current beneficiaries touches one hell of lot of Trump voters. The other reason is that Social Security is a resource for ending the deficit, not a cause of the deficit. They can dump that $3T in paying off bond holders now or later.
Why USPS? Billionaire businesses depend on it in lots of daily ways. Besides USPS supposedly operates off revenue not government appropriations.
So the military scales back everything but “necessary” activities (according to Mattis) to slow their “burn” (spending) rate.
Turning down the simmer of the “tempo of action” also slows down spending.
Mo doubt the role of the unqualified cabinet secretaries is to cut funds “temporarily” to cut the burn rates in every department for the duration of the shutdown.
All education, housing, urban funds, transportation funds, non-favored agricultural funds, non-favored commerce funds etc. can be tried out with a temporary cut for the duration just to test the political reaction. These cuts will be aimed primarily at Democratic electorates. Unless someone is ready to call out this like they called out Nixon’s cutting of the War on Poverty and unless the courts haven’t been weakened to the assault through Republican judges, this might halt the ruse of “for the duration”.
The “tax cut” already tested the political reaction to hand-grenading Obamacare. What was it? Has the media been confusing or clear? How exactly is an opposition going to get traction before November?
Cuts “for the duration” are likely the way to drain the bathtub of many government operations. Or at least the frustrated Freedom Caucus has strategized to deliver Barry Goldwater’s promised conservative revolution.
The USPS will be sold to a corporation, Social Security will be ended and the trillions in the Social Security Trust Fund will go to wipe out what is mostly national security debt.
But by timing it to IRS revenues and temporary shutdowns between recurrent fiscal crises, a sharp tack like Mick Mulvaney and clever money managers like Steve Mnuchin can take the numbers down, not worry about the realities behind those numbers and likely raise their salaries in the process.
What is being pulled out into the light looks like a way of reducing the deficit without dealing with Congress or obeying laws about delivering government services.
Your perception of Julius Caesar is very on point. Julius Caesar was the classic rich soldier tyrant who ruled in the name of the lower classes. That is what makes the difference between a tyrant and a monarch who rules in the name of the royal family and the upper classes. Trump’s base very much wants him to get ahold of the powers they accuse the Mueller committee of misusing. They want to do the misusing on Trump’s enemies. That’s why the votes of 19 Democrats on the NSA 702 extension is so puzzling; is there a real way of killing the legacy of Bush’s warrantless wiretapping yet to come out of this screwed-up Congress?
No. We — every future beneficiary — are the bondholders. We — because Democrats way back in ’82 didn’t properly think through the reform proposal — loaned the surplus cash to the USG that used it to partially fund the deficits (tax cuts and increased defense spending). IOW — reduce the amounts that required funding through selling US bonds on the open market.
12/31/82 public debt. Total $1.2 trillion and $880 billion (73.3%) held by investors – balance in inter-govt holdings/trust funds) (SSI $26 billion/2.2% to total debt.)
12/31/00 public debt. Total $5.7 trillion and $3 trillion (53.6%) held by investors. (SSI $1 trillion/17.5% of total debt.)
2005. Total $8.2 trillion and $4.7 (57.3%). (SSI $1.9 trillion – 23.2% of total debt.)
2010 Total $14 trillion and $9.4 trillion (67.1%). (SSI $2.6 trillion – 18.6% of total debt.)
2017 – $20.5 trillion and $14.5 trillion (70.7%). (SSI as of 12/16 $2.8 trillion – 14% of $20 trillion national debt.)
The deficits primarily resulted from tax cuts and increasing defense spending. That put more cash into the financial markets; so, they needed to create more investment products — MBS, CDOs, and whatever synthetic investments they could concoct. When that crap blew up — the USG bailed them out by selling more USG bonds to whoever had surplus cash (ie China). This latest tax cut will work much like the Clinton/GOP capital gains tax cut — a short-term boost to USG revenues (repatriation of off-shore profits/cash). The GOP will crow, but as it worsens the long-term financial stability, they lose power and Democrats will be left holding the bag with only the options of decreasing spending or increasing taxes. Obama’s “Grand Bargain” went after the former — earned benefits and fortunately enough Republicans balked due to their hatred of Obama when he handed them head on the platter that they had been longing for.
My comments are trying to figure out how the GOP might rejigger the actual debt figures through temporary “emergency” actions during a shutdown that effective sorts out which cuts become permanent.
Only one way to “rejigger” debt: lenders take a haircut. From his family cottage industry, Trump may think he knows how to get that done, it’s not analogous to the USG.
My points are:
So, exactly what “rejiggering” can be done with the rest of the debt? Treasury rolls over (redeems and issues new debt) on a continuous basis (trillions annually). (Note: this function doesn’t stop with the shutdown.) Stop redeeming or not redeem at full value, and then how are they going to sell new issues? Annual deficits have only one funding mechanism — US Treasury issues. If investors/purchasers flee (into gold, etc.), the whole system crashes. Unlike socialist countries, the USG doesn’t own enough property to sell quickly (always at rock bottom prices) to prop up the whole mess.
We’ve been lulled into the notion that deficits don’t matter. Wrong question. Deficits or surpluses are the summation of taxing policies and collections and spending policies. Any of those can be good, short term necessity, or bad. While not without some short-term positive aspects for some, Trump’s wall and tax cuts are medium and long-term bad.
Seems odd to me. Shumer agreed to the fucking wall and increased defense spending but Trump, Miller and Kelly want more,like no DACA. They are pretty sure they can tag the democrats for the shutdown. Trump is a hero for lowest eva unemployment, tax cuts and a raging stock market. So clearly the Dems are screwing up everything. WTF.
atrios:
One of the observations I recall from last night’s coverage on MSNBC as the vote in the Senate remained open while the various Senators appeared to be negotiating, squabbling, or whatever: this is what governing looks like when you don’t have a President. I am merely paraphrasing, but that struck me. Indeed, Dolt 45 has been largely absent from this particular legislative battle and has managed to provide no substantive leadership – I don’t count angry tweets and an occasional meeting with a Senate leader that leads to mixed messages being sent by said Dolt as leadership.
45 is a signature in waiting and a distraction.
Also an aspirational dictator.
Look forward to more nonsense from Republicans claiming that the Democrats are “causing” the shutdown to continue, by not caving.
No, by filibustering the vote. It really doesn’t look good to the public. And it is true, whether or not the alternative is worse.
No, this is not true. The Republicans didn’t get to 50 votes even with democratic help. They control all 3 branches, they wrote the bill entirely within their own conference, and they don’t have the votes to pass it. The filibuster is irrelevant. They didn’t get to 50.
The filibuster IS relevant. It gave the MSM the ammunition to say that Democrats shut down the government.
“The MSM” is going to blame the Democrats no matter what. But we’re reasoning adults capable of counting to 50, are we not?
You know, I really hate that expression. It impugns the honor of Native Americans.
. . . you’d have a valid point!
But sadly, no.
Figures BT’s resident racist wouldn’t get that The Lone Ranger — the white guy — is the butt of that old chestnut of a joke.
Oh wait, that’s it! Now I get it. What chaps your hide isn’t the bullshit explanation you gave that “It impugns the honor of Native Americans” (it doesn’t!).
It’s that the white guy’s the butt of the joke!
No mystery then why you’d hate it.
You are so full of shit! So, Tonto switching sides because they are outnumbered isn’t a breach of his honor? Oh, that’s right, a piece of shit like you has no honor.
. . . him fighting to the death against fellow Native Americans in defense of the white invader. Nice rationalization.
What knots of illogic your racism twists you into.
But clearly, defending the white guy trumps all else in your twisted racist worldview.
Well for 2nd time in 2018 I am brutally ill and in the week between illnesses I had to take care of my son who got sick, got shots and started teething.
So really fuck 2018. Its been pure shit since New Year Day (when I first started getting sick). Shut down only a minor blip in my life thus far.
New Year’s Day here had a HIGH of -2 and a low of -12.
I’m sure it was worse in MN.
Sorry to hear about your illness. Don’t let your will slip. Attitude is a big part of healing.
Unfortunately, I’m a pessimist by nature but you’re right and it means a lot to me that you replied. Thank you very much, friend.
Don’t let events grind you down. What will be, will be. We exist for a shockingly short time. Only a family can be immortal. Enjoy the time that we are here.
It means a lot to me that you call me friend, paisan’.
And if you think of giving up, remember that your son needs you to show him how to be a Man. Having been there for two generations, I assure you that it is a lot of fun, besides being a solemn obligation.
. . . I dunno, clean or something.
Wonder what happened?
Whatever it was, it was a stark change for the better.
Alas that it didn’t last.
Nice while it lasted, right?