How many ways has the Trump administration crapped on the public servants they don’t want to pay? Here’s a couple, maybe you’ve heard more:
- Coast Guard families are encouraged to have garage sales instead of a paycheck.
- Hey, those federal workers were going to take vacation over Christmas anyway, so this is like double pay (since they’ll get paid for their vacation).
Today’s Post reports that Craigslist and Facebook are full of ads from unpaid workers selling stuff to make ends meet. Air traffic controllers are getting $0.00 paystubs (because, in Stupidland, printing paystubs is mission critical, but paying mission critical employees is not).
Trump’s team is finding high-visibility federal programs and pushing funding to them, which is a blatant power grab from Congress that is politically difficult to oppose loudly. I still don’t see how this ends without a lot more pain, especially if Trump gets away with selectively funding parts of government.
NobodySpecial
There are times I want to bury them all and salt the earth. Mostly when they act like this. Damn them to the lowest levels of hell.
Roger Moore
You didn’t mention the part where he lies and claims those employees agree with him and support the shutdown. It’s not as tangible as denying them paychecks, but it’s a total dick move.
Baud
That’s been the rule since Election Day 2016. No way out but through.
A Ghost To Most
Fucking Nazis.
If Tom Steyers wants to use his money to help America, he could spend it on grants to people getting screwed over by Shit Hitler.
hueyplong
If any federal employee were supportive of Trump’s shutdown, the FTFNYT would have interviewed them by now.
Baud
@hueyplong: Good point.
Nicole
I googled, since one of the most gung-ho spewing-FOXNews-Ammurica-ain’t-Christian-enough-no-more-also-big-gubmint-is-the-problem-also-abortions people I know from growing up (well, knew, since I unfriended him last year) is… wait for it… a defense contractor, and I was curious if they’re getting affected by the shutdown. Short answer, yes. Longer answer, yes, although the CEOs are all saying it’s not a big deal. Uh huh.
I can be smug about private defense contractors getting financially smacked by this, right? Can’t I? I mean, they were the real Big Bad in The Last Jedi.
ETA: Full disclosure, I know a retired defense contractor who is a firm Democrat, but it seems like it’s a heavily Republican field these days.
Sebastian
Folks, Hapy Friday!
You know what keeps me happy whenever the Shitgibbon seems to be getting the upper hand? It means the only reason his BS is in the news is because Mueller is quiet.
Tick tock, motherfuckers. Tick motherfucking tock
chopper
@hueyplong:
as a fed, i’ve met plenty of GOP voters. well, in the past at least. i have a feeling things are changing.
Betty Cracker
@hueyplong: They’ve done the next-best thing in today’s edition, which has yet another piece on soon-to-be bankrupt farmers who still support Trump. As a novelty, The Times included one farmer who voted for Clinton and is critical of Trump. Progress?
I’m still clinging to the notion that no one can defy political gravity forever, not even with the witting and unwitting support of the Beltway press corps.
The midterms showed the bastard hanging in thin air like Wile E. Coyote just gone over a cliff. I look forward to watching the plummet ending in a little cloud of dust over the next year and change…
OzarkHillbilly
The least you can do is give them some ketchup with it.
chopper
oh and that 0 dollar paycheck is just excellent PR. nice job there, fellas.
A Ghost To Most
@Betty Cracker: I still forsee a Mr. Creosote like explosion, not a neat, cloud of dust in the distance. This will be ugly.
Matt McIrvin
Imagine if we could crack the Senate Republicans’ support for McConnell over this.
I know, I’m dreaming. But Mitch McConnell is the one person other than Donald Trump who has the power to end this shitshow and isn’t doing so. A remarkable number of stories are portraying this as a fight between Trump and the House Democrats and are leaving him out entirely.
Daoud bin Daoud
“Stupid is as stupid does.”
Sebastian
@chopper:
Yeah, I found that a particularly nice note. There have to be pictures, no?
JR
They should go after the golf courses and hotels.
Roger Moore
That’s one of the likely outcomes of cutting back on FDA inspections.
Zinsky
When a major political party morphs into a cult whose motto is essentially, “Only wealthy white capitalists matter – all government employees except soldiers are unnecessary”, why are we surprised when shit like this happens? Completely unnecessary and nothing but sheer propaganda and political theater! I agree with James Comey’s sentiment that we need to inflict an electoral beatdown on the Republican Party that reduces them to a powerless, minority rump party that is out of power for two generations! What a disgusting aggregation of mindless human beings!
satby
@Matt McIrvin: push back is occurring on Twitter and Facebook naming McConnell as an equal villain, so the work has to be pressuring news media and Republican Senators to force a vote and hold McConnell’s feet to the fire until he does.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I think Trump and clown car around him are that stupid as not get how big the Fedural government is, remember Trump apparently has problems with object permanence.
Feathers
According to Mass labor laws, if you aren’t paid within six days of the end of your pay period, other states must have similar laws, but I haven’t heard anything about it. I can’t imagine the Dem AGs are going to let this slide.
ETA: On stopped MBTA train. Because someone was hit by a train. I think this is the sort of situation where Thoughts and Prayers is the correct response.
Aimai
Yikes! I had to lyft in because of busting my toe! Definitely thoughts and prayers to everyone on the MBTA this morning.
Sasha
I can’t help but wonder how many furloughed employees are going to become radicalized because of this nonsense.
Yarrow
@Matt McIrvin:
I think that’s what Chuck and Nancy are going for. Some Republicans in Congress are already indicating they’re willing to cross the aisle and make a deal to end the shutdown. If enough Senate Republicans do that it’ll weaken McConnell’s power. It’ll show he can’t keep his caucus in line.
schrodingers_cat
We can vote out the Rs but we need strategies to take on the permanent R courtiers of the media. It is because of them that R party gets away with murder. Again and again.
I speak of the Jake Tappers, Maggie Habermans and Judy Woodruffs and their bosses who we don’t see.
Elizabelle
I don’t see this ending well for Trump and McConnell. I really don’t.
And how unfair and cruel to government employees AND people who use government services. Including our beautiful national parks. And our airways.
This is not how a first world country acts, and this is not going to be forgotten as voters choose in 2019 (locals) and 2020. I do hope it helps break the GOP. This, and Mueller and foreign money and influence. Enough.
Snarki, child of Loki
@Sasha: “I can’t help but wonder how many furloughed employees are going to become radicalized because of this nonsense.”
IRS employees especially.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: I agree. Some of whom are so bad (Dean Baquet) that we know their names.
The Dangerman
You mean like cutting off funds for Puerto Rico and California?
Actually, I don’t think he declares an emergency declaration; the man doesn’t have the balls.
Elizabelle
@Aimai: Hope you have a rapid recovery. Toe injuries will get your attention, but good.
GregB
This is all about destroying the government and implementing rule by fiat for the shittiest man in America in order to appease the shittiest of our fellow citizens.
It is a Caca-stocracy.
BroD
Become a Dog Walker
and bring your poopy bags to the Official Dog-Shit Collection Center at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington DC
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: I have been watching the Snooze Hour pretty regularly the past week or so. Judy Woodruff conducts interviews with the premise that whatever the R POV is, is the truth and that the Ds are either lying or being obstructionist. When the opposite is true. It is infuriating to watch.
germy
AOC often gets the most press attention, but there’s a wonderful new crowd of young people:
germy
@Aimai:
If uber dies a natural death, I wonder if in a few decades “lyft” will become a generic word, like “kleenex” ?
Yarrow
If you haven’t called your Senators and Representatives, whether R or D, to let them know how you feel about the shutdown, today’s a good day to do it. They need to feel the pressure if they’re Rs and the support if they’re Ds.
khead
Very thankful to be getting paid this week. Rumors say maybe until the end of January. I thought this shit would be settled by now. Hell, I actually bet on it being over by now and lost.
Meanwhile, have some cats.
Redshift
@Sebastian: Yes, lots of pictures!
Betty Cracker
@The Dangerman: I think Trump will declare a national emergency. He’s definitely a coward, but there’s no other escape route at this point.
Redshift
Well, it’s not the administration, but from GOP congresscritters we’re also getting the old “why do we even have government employees who are non-essential? Hur, hur, hur!”
But we get that every shutdown (at least on DC news), because they’re anti-government assholes who are too stupid to know that non-essential just means in the short term. Interestingly, I feel like that phase didn’t last as long this time.
Yarrow
@Feathers:
If you aren’t paid within six days, what happens then? What are the penalties?
Elizabelle
Frank Bruni, headline and blurb, on NY Times website:
Haven’t read. He’s a bit too both sides for my taste, and kind of contrarian. So who knows what he actually says?
Big part of it is his own goddamned paper, though.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: What is a “national emergency declaration” actually supposed to be used for?
The Dangerman
@Betty Cracker:
The only other out is McConnell growing a pair.
Really, we are one plane going down (not purposely or as a result of a terrorist event, but as a stochastic event, planes go down) from all sorts of shit happening. And isn’t MM’s wifey Secretary of Transportation? She might insist he do something.
Doug R
Some good Friday morning news for jackals: Comedy legend Elayne Boosler will be on the Stephanie Miller Show about an hour from now. It’s a radio show you can hear on WCPT on Tune In or Chicago Radio App.
Stephanie has a video link on her web page
https://www.stephaniemiller.com/
captnkurt
@schrodingers_cat:
Proper pluralization is what separates us from the animals.
Betty Cracker
@Yarrow: It’s a political stunt, of course. But the shitgibbon will declare a bogus emergency, which the courts will reject, and the government will reopen. He’s painted himself into a corner.
Yarrow
Looks like John got out of Miami just in time.
Frankensteinbeck
@The Dangerman:
The one thing McConnell is not, is a coward. He wants this shutdown for some reason. It could be pride, spite, or a sincere desire to destroy the American economy and shatter millions of lives, now that he has an excuse that he thinks will let him pull it off. It could be a mistaken calculation that Democrats will be blamed. It might be a power play to try and break Trump or Pelosi. It might be because he likes sitting on his ass and watching other people get in trouble. It’s not because he’s afraid of Trump or Trump’s voters.
chopper
@Sebastian:
there’s one at the link. it’s just…wonderful.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: Thanx.
Amir Khalid
@germy:
Not everywhere in the world. Here in Southeast Asia we use, and speak of, Grabcar.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: I know this one is a political stunt. I just don’t know what the “national emergency declaration” is supposed to be used for. Something like 9/11? Was that one? Pearl Harbor? Oklahoma City bombing? Hurricanes?
Yarrow
@Frankensteinbeck: Fear. If he breaks and supports a Dem plan his kompromat could be leaked. That’s much worse for him.
germy
@Amir Khalid: Grabcar. I like that name.
rp
@Elizabelle: The fact that Frank Bruni of all people is saying this is pretty a big deal.
psycholinguist
Is the title of the post a reference to James McMurty’s anthem “Can’t Make it Here” from the Bush years?
https://youtu.be/s0Eqt2v1uYU
TomatoQueen
@Yarrow: According to last night’s nooz (CBS), there have been a bunch of emergency declarations since some year, two of which were 9/11 and Ebola.
PPCLI
@Roger Moore:
And at the same time, the Gaslighter-in-Chief is saying that federal employees are all Democrats [implied: so it’s OK to abuse them.]
A Ghost To Most
crooks&liars
Yarrow
@TomatoQueen: Thanks.
ascap_scab
@A Ghost To Most:
If Steyer did that, they wouldn’t learn any lesson, would still blame Dems for the nanny state (SOSHILlSM BITCHEZ), and vote for Shitler again because he hurts them other more.
John Fremont
@Nicole: I work in aviation/aerospace and it is heavily GOP with a lot of employees being veterans
catclub
@Matt McIrvin: Bloomberg has recognized this. Or, an op-Ed writer at Bloomberg.
Pelosi Should Recognize President McConnell
Barbara
Here is a map showing the impact on states per 10,000 workers. I know you will be shocked to find that outside of the national capital area, the hardest hit states are Montana, Alaska, and Wyoming. New Mexico is fourth. Idaho, South Dakota, and West Virginia are all harder hit than Virginia.
A Ghost To Most
@Yarrow: A Reichstag Fire by any other news.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Lindsey Graham has been bleating about how reopening the government without wall funding would be the end of Trump’s run as an “effective” president because his support would collapse. Maybe McConnell is making a similar calculation. He wants to continue stacking courts and pushing plutocrat-friendly policies. Trump’s collapse would endanger those goals.
germy
@Betty Cracker: I believe you’re exactly right. They’ve been putting up with trump because he enables their agenda.
A Ghost To Most
@John Fremont: I worked as a contractor for DOD. Very wingnut workforce.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Declaring a national emergency is 1000x worse than it would have been for President Obama to mint the coin to get us out of whatever jam the Rs had put us into.
germy
@A Ghost To Most: Interesting trivia:
Spanky
@Yarrow: Cole drove the whole trip. Remember pics of Lily napping in the car?
I would bet that certain essential employees like air traffic controllers may strike/quit/phone in sick at a high enough rate to seriously impact air travel. And THEN the heat will be on both Mrs. McConnell and Shitler.
OT: Sab posted about taking his Dad’s cat for hyperthyroid treatment earlier this week, prompting me to take Spanky in for similar symptoms. Long story short, it’s diabetes, and today he got his first insulin shot. So here’s hoping.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: I think for McConnell and Graham it’s a combination of political ambition and personal psychology. Graham is desperate to stave off a trumpist primary challenge and loves being at the center of the storm. There’s some quote floating around where he says whatever happens, he will be “relevant”. The O’Bros have been saying recently that until it became clear that McConnell et al were going full obstructionist, Graham was in and out of the Obama transition offices every day (see also Judd Gregg). He’s gone from Meet the Press to Judge Jeanine, but he’s on TV! and people are quoting him on twitter! He matters!
McConnell revels in power for power’s sake, and wants to control the judiciary whatever happens in 2020. He needs to be majority leader, whoever is president in 2021. The minute it looks like trump puts that at risk, when Iowa or North Carolina– or Georgia!– start to look as wobbly as Maine and Colorado, he’ll cut trump loose.
My cent and a half
A Ghost To Most
@germy: I see a new meme developed:
#whitehousesitcoms
I like “Bigoted Bang Theory”.
The Moar You Know
@Nicole: I not only work for one but am on the board of directors. This isn’t hurting us at all. Nor will it. Not unless it rolls through September and we get a real government shutdown, one where the military can’t buy gas and the SS and Medicare/Medicaid checks stop.
Right now, this is hurting exactly the people that the GOP wants it to. Nobody else.
Frankensteinbeck
@Yarrow:
That seems like a stretch to me. Being blackmailed for this? Seriously? Why now? McConnell has given both Russia and Trump middle fingers in the past. Blackmail doesn’t add up as the explanation. It doesn’t fit any pattern of behavior over the last two years.
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t see how. He cares nothing about Trump other than having a rubber stamp and refusing to let the legitimacy of Republican rule be questioned one iota. Whether Trump is strong or weak doesn’t affect that, and he’s had no problems slapping Trump’s policy desires down up until now. If anything, a cowed Trump who whines less would be helpful to him, which is why I’m seriously considering the purpose of this shutdown is to slap Trump into accepting McConnell is the boss.
On the other hand, McConnell could believe anything, wrong or right, on this subject. He’ll make his decisions based on his beliefs, not the truth.
piratedan
@Frankensteinbeck: we have to remember that based on his actions and the actual legislative jujitsu that McConnell is practicing that is he is very likely just as complicit in the treason that Trump has engaged in. I now fully believe that all of the GOP hierarchy was involved and Mitch is playing out the string and doing as much damage as he can and I would not be shocked to see his family quietly moving as many assets as possible into hidden places right now because when this is all over, that particular Senator from Kentucky will be brought up on charges as well. Really, what other political calculus fits based on his actions? He has every opportunity to drop anchor on Trump and salvage some kind of political career, he hasn’t and while he may know how to bend the rules and subvert the Senate to his authority because of their proclivity to play fair (at least the Dems) the long term political prognosis has to suck ass unless McConnell thinks that there are enough Russian tendrils in play in enough places to get him off with nothing more than a censure and perhaps he’s right about that and perhaps he’s much more careful than Trump in his tradecraft, but look at who he’s cahooting with…. really?
Yarrow
@Spanky: It was kind of a joke. He kept his car at the airport lot so he was sort of at the airport.
Roger Moore
@Yarrow:
He drove, so the Miami airport was the least of his worries.
The Moar You Know
@Frankensteinbeck: Agreed. He could end this tomorrow…it wouldn’t affect his career at all. He’s not doing that. There’s a reason.
Frankensteinbeck
@piratedan:
That he is actively trying to burn down the US is certainly a possibility. Everything he has done since Obama was elected fits, whether it’s because of ‘I’d rather die than share with a negro’ racism or being an agent of Putin.
There’s no evidence so far that McConnell is connected with Russia closer than the arm’s length, nod-and-wink way that he can get away with legally. The long term political prognosis that dominates that Kentucky aristocrat’s thoughts is brown people voting.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
WOMP WOMP
CliosFanboy
@Frankensteinbeck: I agree, he is not stupid, or cowardly. He is EVIL.
Yarrow
@Roger Moore: See my comment just above yours.
Booger
@Amir Khalid: …as in Grabcar’s Hammer?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Elizabelle:
This is the U.S., it always dealt with in terms of money and the government is to important a part of the economy just to go away. I don’t see how the entire nation, conservatives and liberals, have two years to wait for another president while Trump indulges himself in some tolder like fit of anger over losing the mid term election.
Gravenstone
@Yarrow: Adam was arguing the other evening that the dissenters are simply acting for show, with McConnell’s permission. Sadly, I find that plausible given the fact that most of them are the “swing” votes who seem to inevitably swing back to the Republican line when push comes to shove. I guess only time will tell for sure.
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
I hate them too much to read the article, but I heard that like a lot of stories, what it actually shows is the opposite – only one of the farmers they found supports Trump in this, but because they found one, the narrative is ‘farmers still support Trump.’
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Hey remember a week ago when shadow president Mitt Romney was gonna change the fucking game with his shoulders of righteousness?
Spanky
@Frankensteinbeck: I wouldn’t at all bet the farm on McConnell being owed by the Russians. There are other powerful, expansionist Asian countries that would benefit mightily from having Turtleman in their pocket.
Gravenstone
@Redshift: Gotta like the clown ragging on his Dem Senator (Harris). Like she’s the problem here … Some of these morons will just double down on their stupidity and become even more entrenched and embittered.
Nicole
@The Moar You Know: Sigh. Well, that’s depressing, if unsurprising. Same as it ever was, I guess.
Here’s the WaPo piece I had read:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/01/09/government-shutdown-starting-burn-aerospace-defense-firms/?utm_term=.69e1bfa0180a
Feathers
@Yarrow: You file a complaint with the AG’s office and they investigate. If they determine you are owed the wages, the company is forced to pay you and may be fined on top of that. I have a friend who got a nice chunk of money from a company which had been shorting her on overtime for quite a while. She needed the job, but kept copies of her pay stubs and the schedules which showed the extra hours.
I don’t know enough or have the time right now to start something over this, but it would be great if people could get the extra money.
I do think the Dems in the House should pass a bill saying federal employees get time and a half for every paycheck missed during a shutdown. Make there be a penalty for someone beyond the workers.
Frankensteinbeck
@Gravenstone:
There is a well established tradition that politicians who normally don’t give a shit start freaking out when shutdowns happen and their constituents don’t get paid. It’s a major threat to their own political livelihood. Right now, this is all in McConnell’s hands and they have no say. It would take a major upheaval in the Senate to change that, at an explosive, ‘McConnell loses his Majority Leader title’ level. Presumably before then McConnell would call a vote to head it off, but until then defections are going to be indistinguishable from kabuki because there’s fuck-all upset Senators can do.
Amir Khalid
@Booger:
Grabcar’s Hammer was what they used to beat the crap out of Uber over here. Uber cried uncle and sold up to Grabcar last year. Grabcar’s Hammer would indeed be useful if you needed to avenge anyone.
kindness
From what I’ve seen so far it seems Senate Republicans are OK with Trump declaring a National Emergency and seizing funding and controls from Congress. That shocks me. That isn’t simply them being ‘good little Germans’. Trump seizing power with their consent means those very same Republicans are guilty of treason.
If we get an election in 2020 (no guarantees right now) and if Democrats win, we can’t pull an Obama/Jesus thing and turn the other cheek. Every time we’ve let scandalous Republicans slide they’ve come back to bite us in the ass. No more.
catclub
@WaterGirl: I am pretty sure Trump will have Mnuchin issue that coin. The GOP won’t say a word.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Maybe. IMO, the Senatortoise is evil, but he’s he’s not dumb, so he realizes a humiliated Trump would be a loose cannon who could endanger the GOP agenda.
Spanky
Well of course they would:
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: Problem with that is it was Turtle who refused to let the wall come to vote way back in Spring 2017. Turtle don’t want the wall and it’s easy enough to come up with some kind of nonsense to for Trump to save face.
Maybe Turtle wants this crises to break Trump and get Trump out because it would mean Pence would be president. Peace is more of a team player with the other Republicans As it was pointed pointed out Trump deliberately chose Judge McDruken Crybaby because Trump wanted a controversy instead of some bland, easy to get threw Federalist drone.
Gravenstone
@Betty Cracker: Until Pence is indicted and removed from office, McConnell could effectively lose Trump and still achieve his conservative desires. I am very confident Pence would be just as pliable a rubber stamp, with much less open drama. Therefore, his support of Trump would seem to stem from something else. Exactly what, I have no idea.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think every Senate Republican and most of the House Rs would be thrilled if trump had an Elvis on the crapper
catclub
@The Moar You Know: McConnell is the agent of his caucus. If he is tells them to do something they don’t want to do, then he is out. So they WANT this. They have cover and are not taking any painful votes.
He is the mouthpiece that should be aimed at, rather than Trump, but it is all the Senate GOP caucus that cause the problem.
Frankensteinbeck
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
@Gravenstone:
Everything I’ve seen of Pence since the presidential campaigns started suggests Pence is a mindless moron who says whatever he’s been told to say without improvisation. The perfect Republican President.
schrodingers_cat
I find it useless to speculate on the motivation of Rs. What we need to focus on instead are strategies D elected reps can implement. And what we as citizens can do.
Building Rs as 10 feet tall and being able to get away with everything becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
Frankensteinbeck
@catclub:
No, he’s not. All stories of how the Senate runs are that McConnell considers himself a dictator, who hands his Senators bills and tells them to shut up and vote for it with no consultation. McConnell is an agent of himself and white power. Until his caucus gets the guts to overthrow him – a huge step, they have no say.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
From the Atlanta Journal-Constituion, via Jamelle Bouie:
if the left blogosphere want to scare McConnell, we should organize a money bomb for Stacey Abrams
Amir Khalid
@Frankensteinbeck:
Why does McConnell’s caucus fear him so? Is he blackmailing them all?
Face
Yeah, but he cant fund them all. And at the ones he’s not paying, eventually the desertion rate will be so high (TSA) that they’ll simply cease to function.
A Ghost To Most
@Frankensteinbeck:
kindness
@Frankensteinbeck: McConnell knew Russia gave $30 M to the NRA and McConnell knows a significant chunk of that money went to the Senate Republican re-election committees. There is a reason McConnell refused to allow Obama & the CIA tell America the Russians were messing with the election in 2016. It wasn’t just that McConnell wanted Trump to win. McConnell was in on it the whole way. Levenworth is too good for McConnell. He deserves hanging.
rikyrah
This phuckery here???
Jennifer Cohn (@jennycohn1) Tweeted:
The system Kemp is forcing through puts your vote into an unverifiable barcode. The only portion of the so-called paper ballot counted as your vote is the freaking barcode that voters can’t read. DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW? #JimCrow #StatesRights #ShameOnAmerica
https://t.co/T78WCeo4sp https://twitter.com/jennycohn1/status/1083422797412487169?s=17
Punchy
Just give them some anti-oxidants and they’ll recover.
tobie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: now this is something I can get behind. Abrams is great and she’s realistic enough to know that renouncing all PAC money in this particular campaign environment is unilaterally disarming.
Betty Cracker
@Enhanced Voting Techniques & @Gravenstone: McConnell isn’t dumb enough to believe Trump’s ouster wouldn’t cause Cult45 to go apeshit. He knows he’s stuck with Trump and playing his hand as best he can, IMO.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
Unlikely. Trump’s support is rock solid. As solid as Wall.
He can now even blame Democrats and say he did all he could to get Wall.
A sad anecdote. The News anchor on the biggest English language station in Los Angeles is a strong Trump supporter and believes in Wall. Her husband is a veteran and works for FEMA. He ain’t getting paid and they still love Trump. They are his until the end. This is beyond people voting against their own interests. I don’t know how far people like this would go, how far they would let their own lives be ruined for the sake of their Dear Leader.
Trump is still president and would be despite any “collapse” in his support. And sadly, the odds are good that Trump may be able to make another Supreme Court appointment.
But I guess that Graham and McConnell could be trying to ensure that they remain in play no matter what happens with Trump and the Democrats.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
My civic actions today, small as they are:
(1) I made a donation to Food Bank of the Rockies, which has offered food assistance for those affected by the shutdown.
(2) As soon as Resistbot is not overwhelmed (apparently it’s getting used a lot today–good) I will send a letter to Cory the Useless along the lines of “stop aiding and abetting Cheetolini in hurting the 53,200 Federal employees in Colorado–your constituents and my fellow citizens–you spineless fuck. Good luck keeping your seat in 2020.”
Frankensteinbeck
@kindness:
And knowing that puts McConnell in no legal jeopardy. There’s no sign he was stupid enough to make direct offers to Russian agents. There could be much more actionable things we don’t know, but from what we know now he can smile and say “Gosh, you mean those people were collaborators? That’s terrible! Who could have known Russian money would do that to them? I sure didn’t!” and get away with it.
@Amir Khalid:
A damned good question I have never heard a really good answer to. He’s known to be unpopular. Republicans value spite and bullying when we think it’s bad, so maybe he looks like a strong leader to them.
cain
@The Moar You Know:
If we get that far. The TSA shortage will cause flights to stop. The airlines by that time will be in full screaming mode because it would depress the number of passengers. Conferences will no longer be based in the U.S., tourism will go down. If by summer this is not resolved, we are going to be really really fucked. Even border control won’t be paid and let’s see how secure the border is without bordre control cops. They won’t even be able to pay for family separations, or food for those poor kids.
khead
@Booger:
DON’T SAY THAT!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Face: Also Trump and his admin aren’t into details, they don’t know what are the parts of the government that the public are hyper sensitive too. That stupid, incurious, lazy, racist idiot persona of Trump’s isn’t an act, that’s really what he is.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Frankensteinbeck: The Republican Party was founded by Union Civil War vets (oh the irony that is is what Uncle Billy’s boys became) but loyalty to the leadership is important to Republicans. Their party was full of contradictions from the founding between the Abolitionists, the Know Nothings, Free Labor and Wall Street, so loyalty to the leader is a must for them.
A Ghost To Most
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Not founded by Civil War vets; Lincoln ran as an R in 1860.
Largely populated by Union vets after the war, though.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Money is the obvious if inadequate starting point. I think for all the Koch bros and Mercers we all know about, there are X number of people the Mercers could buy and sell who are nonetheless in the top .05% of rich people and can write million dollar checks to PACs and outfits we’ve never heard of, and McConnell controls a lot of that money. And since Gingrich there’s been a rising tide of people always willing to out-crazy you, at least in the red and dark purple states.
Then there’s “the culture of the Senate”, and this is the one I can’t figure out. I mentioned Judd Gregg upthread, I think he’s one of the great under-studied cases of the early Obama years. He had IIRC already announced his resignation to become Commerce Secretary, the story was he was going to be replaced by an old school New England Republican who would not run for reelection. Then Mitch McConnell started working on him, Barbara Bush stuck a gnarled paw in the whole thing, and he backed out. There was the usual “McConnell had pictures of him with a dead girl of a live boy”. I think the truth is much less interesting and therefore more frustrating. They just made it socially awkward for him. Olympia Snowe loved being a Senator, could have been one of the most powerful people in the country, but she resigned rather than stand up to McConnell. Flake, Corker, now Alexander and Romney. They have nothing to lose (though I do think Willard wants to preserve “the base” for Ragg’s future running as the White Horse), but they won’t stand up to McConnell or trump.
Amir Khalid
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Far be it from me to nitpick, but wasn’t Abe elected POTUS as a Republican in 1860?
Martin
There’s the secondary effects of all of this as well. Trump harping on CA forest management really chafes for a lot of us, because the Camp Fire that swept through Paradise started in a national forest, not a state managed forest. Right now, there’s no management of those forests because of the shutdown. And he’s threatening to cut the funds that the state forest workers would need to continue to maintain the state forests.
Everything that the feds fail to do, the state workers need to make up for, and we’re getting a little fucking tired of it. It’s nowhere near the level of outrage that Yutsy and other federal workers should be feeling, but it sure ain’t helping either.
Patricia Kayden
@Nicole: Contractors won’t get back pay when the government reopens so I kind of feel sorry for them. That’s pretty tough — especially if the current shutdown doesn’t end for a couple of months.
glory b
@Betty Cracker: Yep. I was listening to Pod Save America (I find them to be equal parts funny and they have good stories about working with Obama). They said that he will declare a national emergency, there will be an injunction halting work, it will be bogged down in the courts and ultimately fail, but he will get to tell his flying monkeys that he did everything he could.
Can’t link, but Above The Law has an article titled, “Can All Lawyers Just Admit The Wall Will Never Be Built Because Of The Fifth Amendment?”
Miss Bianca
@hedgehog the occasional commenter: Yep. Me too, with the Cory-badgering. Fucking weasel. I want him gone, gone, GONE.
realbtl
@Booger: It’s Grabcar’s Hummer obviously.
Jak
Furloughed workers can’t use vacation time (A/L). The argument that workers were probably on vacation and now they will get double time is pure Bull Shit.
rikyrah
@germy:
I love her. I never thought that she would win, but I was tickled pink when she did. :)
West of the Rockies
@satby:
I think you meant to say “McConnell’s shell to the fire…”
The Dangerman
@glory b:
I dunno. I’m still on first coffee this end so I could be FOS (a regular occurrence, i admit)…
…but before the Courts rule, the House will vote this thing down, and the Senate than has 15 or 18 days (there’s a 3 day window in the rules that don’t make sense on one cup of Joe) to vote it up or down. That would be one hell of a vote to take for Team Republican. I mean, it’s a lose lose, up or down. Vote yes and the next time a D holds the White House, House, and Senate, say hello to Single Payer (just to start). Vote no and feel the wrath of the Trumpers.
sdhays
@Frankensteinbeck: Who would replace him? John Cornyn? That’s not exactly a trade worth all the drama and risk from their perspective. And I think a majority of the Republican Senate Caucus probably prefers not having to actually legislate or make decisions for themselves, even if they get upset about this or that from time to time. They’re lazy.
Just One More Canuck
@Booger: what a savings
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Amir Khalid: Yes, but a lot of 1860 Republicans joined the Union Army, the vets were the dominate force in the GOP for a generation after. “Grand Old Party”, “Grand Army of the Republic”, that kind of stuff. The American Civil War and running the US government during it defined the Republicans. For example, why Republicans can see no wrong with Wall Street was because of the crazy things that were done to float government bonds during the Civil War.
sdhays
@glory b: This is basically how I’ve been expecting it to play out once the whole “National Emergency” idea was raised up the flagpole.
Frankensteinbeck
@sdhays:
I basically agree with all you just said. To tie that back to the original topic, his caucus would have to be very, VERY motivated to replace McConnell. It’s a trauma level event, blowing up the caucus. Until that extreme level of pressure is reached, they can all be angry and want to vote for a budget, sincerely so, and it means nothing. Only what McConnell wants is relevant.
rikyrah
Ald. Edward Burke’s attempted extortion charge looms over Chicago mayoral forum
By Bill Ruthhart and Gregory Pratt
Chicago Tribune
Exactly a week after federal authorities charged powerful Ald. Edward Burke with attempted extortion, the topic of the embattled 50-year machine politician — and his ties to some of Chicago’s mayoral candidates — took center stage at a Northwest Side forum Thursday night.
The event, held at Steinmetz College Prep in Belmont Cragin, marked the first time the large field of candidates shared a stage since Burke was charged. The longtime alderman is accused of attempting to shake down a restaurant owner in his ward who was seeking help with a permit, for a campaign contribution and business at his private law firm.
All but three of the 15 candidates running for mayor participated in the entire event, crowding onto an auditorium stage for the frenzied forum.
The most glaring exception: Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who the Chicago Tribune has reported was the intended recipient of the campaign contribution that federal prosecutors say Burke illegally solicited. Preckwinkle backed out at the last minute, organizers said.
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator: I don’t think Cult45’s loyalty is unconditional. Thanks to his own brainless demagoguery, Trump can’t back down on the wall. Probably unwittingly, he tested that theory a few weeks ago and found he couldn’t. He’s an idiot in almost every sense but can detect a shift in the mood of a mob, and that’s why he backpedaled on signing the CR and insisted on the shutdown.
McConnell, who is up for reelection in 2020, knows that the vast majority of Republicans are with Trump on this wall thing, so he’s not going to undermine Trump on the wall. It would invite a wingnut challenger, and he knows it. He’ll stand pat until Trump does this moronic “national emergency” play and gets shut down by the courts. It’s a face-saving move for both of them.
tobie
@germy: @rikyrah: I’m on my tablet and don’t know how to paste a link but I wanted to mention that in her very first day in office Lauren Underwood introduced and got passed an amendment to the rules that eliminated the NDAs and slush fund Congressmen had used to silence staffers who accused them if sexual harrassment. She’s someone to keep an eye on.
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
I would expect that pansy to have Pence or Kelly declare it. Not that they (legally) can, but I would expect Shitgibbon to at least try.
catclub
@rikyrah: I bet there are bar-code reader apps for phones nowadays.
catclub
@Amir Khalid: As I said above, they do not fear him. He is THEIR agent, and they can kick him out anytime
he does something they do not approve of.
Citizen Alan
Probably a stupid and naive question (and the first response will probably be “No. SAFSQ.”), but is it remotely possible that there are five Republicans who could conceivably jump ship, declare themselves Independent, and caucus with the Dems for purposes of ending the shutdown?
Aziz, light!
American voters have the attention span of gnats. A year after the 2013 shutdown (a failed anti-ACA stunt), the voters punished the Republicans by handing them the Senate (flipping nine Democratic seats) and boosting their hold on the House by 13 seats. By the time 2020 gets here, they will have forgotten this shutdown ever happened.
Other Trump bullshit may sway some of them, but not this particular event.
And I think that Turtle will pay no price whatsoever.
NotoriousJRT
Just called Mitch McConnell’s office. We are all constituents of the Majority Leader, IMO.
Phone: (202) 224-2541
germy
Repatriated
@catclub: Yes, but remember the apps probably log what you scan, cross-reference it to your identity, and resell the data.
This could be problematic even if you discount the potential loss of voting anonymity.
catclub
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
baloney. they can learn those things REALLY fast. 1. IRS refunds will continue 2. Food stamps come february.. will continue.
3. They are surveying all the closed agencies for just this reason – to find out which squeaky wheels to grease first.
germy
@tobie:
I agree. She gives me hope for the future.
EDIT: I see already some repub dipshit has announced he wants to run against her. He calls himself a “serial entrepreneur” which probably means multiple scam artist.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/naperville-sun/news/ct-nvs-underwood-challenger-quigley-naperville-st-0109-story.html
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: Egad, she is a marvel. One never knows what she is going to say next, except that is bound to be something extraordinarily stupid.
tobie
@germy: A serial entrepreneur??? Like a serial rapist? My God, these people have no shame.
catclub
@Citizen Alan: Corker and Flake did not do that when only two were necessary, and they were both retiring.
Five is even harder and less likely. so NO,
SAFSQ
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: @tobie: “serial entrepreneur” sounds to me like “my grand/parents set me up with a Jimmy Johns franchise, then a skateboard shop, and finally I tried Amway, but assholes totally kept screwing me”
Matt McIrvin
I don’t find McConnell’s behavior mysterious at all. Everything he does is for the sake of Republican supremacy, and his method has always been total bloc solidarity. He doesn’t care about the wall, but Trump is a Republican President loved by the Republican rank and file so he will obey Trump. That’s all there is to it.
catclub
@Repatriated: Hence burner phones. My tuner app probably reports how bad I play my musical instrument – and what songs!
I thought the barcode reader would reveal they used ROT-13 for encryption in the codes.
Amir Khalid
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Of that I have no doubt. But I was puzzled by your assertion that the party was founded by veterans of a war that was still some years in the future.
Matt McIrvin
@Aziz, light!: Not if in 2020 the shutdown is still in progress.
Barbara
@germy: I really don’t trust anyone who claims to speak for presumably millions of people. This sounds like the kind of extortionate threat that an amateur politician would make. “Vote for me or else!”
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Exactly. So now he’s trying politics.
I used to live next door to a guy like that. He formed countless companies; put an LLC after his name, was always juggling multiple
scamsbusinesses, hired subcontractors and then wouldn’t pay them, always avoiding dissatisfied customers. He finally moved away to greener pastures where I assume he’s continuing his behavior.A lot of these people are gravitating towards politics, after they saw trump do it.
Pogonip
@Nicole: DOD is funded, so I’m curious as to how their contractors would be affected by the shutdown.
randy khan
@Frankensteinbeck:
I don’t know if I’d call him a coward, but when it comes to his majority and his power, he’s extremely risk averse. McConnell’s almost certainly staying out of this because he sees no political upside to being involved, and significant downside to nearly any action he could take. That’s why there hasn’t been a vote on the Dem bills that were passed more than a week ago – if they pass the Senate, there will be significant backlash from primary voters (worse if Trump vetoed the bills, which is not guaranteed since Trump actually is a coward), if they fail in the Senate, there will be significant backlash from general election voters. And any proposal he makes that isn’t The Wall Fully Funded, full stop, creates the same problem. So he sits in his shell, poking his head out (very slowly) periodically to see if anything has happened.
J R in WV
@khead:
FascistBook won’t let people look at your fascistbook pictures without joining fascistbook myself. Which I won’t do, given their proclivity for selling user data of Russo-Fascists opposing our national interests.
Around the edges of their login/registration popup your kitties look wonderful!
Fair Economist
Doesn’t that mean they are on a strict 2 week pay schedule and even if the government is reopened they have to wait 2 weeks for any money? Are air traffic controllers the only ones in that situation (I’m guessing not).
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, but we will eat literal shit too.
@Frankensteinbeck:
He doesn’t have to have made direct offers. If he knows Republican Senators are receiving illegal campaign contributions and actively works to allow it he’s guilty of campaign finance violations. Knowingly receiving them is a violation even if you don’t ask. Most likely he personally was getting money from the NRA so it’s even more direct than that.
Punchy
Perhaps today, you may be accurate. Give it another week or 2, and a shit-ton of people will be screwed and obscenely furious.
At that point, party loyalty may be crushed, at least to the non-crazy GOP voters.
Fair Economist
@germy:
And a significant portion of Bernie’s supporters will go to Trump even if Bernie gets the nomination. It’s probably about the same as if Bernie loses. Any genuine Bernie supporter will prefer any Democrat to Trump; but he has a lot of fake supporters that are just trying to cause trouble.
Fair Economist
@Punchy:
Both of them?
john b
@Pogonip:
The only (tangential) effect would be if an emergency was declared and DOD funds were diverted to the wall. But that’s only in the theoretical stage at this point.
WaterGirl
@randy khan: I think the turtle would rather burn the country down than let Trump make a fool of him again like Trump did after the 100-0 vote.
Chief Oshkosh
@John Fremont: Yep, lots of “conservatives” in aerospace and airline industry. They whined the absolute most in 2009 when the sequester slightly slowed their gravy train. Every single Republican I knew in those fields took the stance that “oh, we need the sequester, we need to cut gubmint spending, but only in all those OTHER wasteful areas. OUR roles in society are sacrosanct!”
They may have been the founders of the “People who voted for leopards who bight off faces” party, who later ended up saying “but I didn’t think leopards would bite off MY face.”
J R in WV
@Spanky:
And his wife, Elaine Chow, is the heiress to a vast Asian shipping company fortune, a Chinese shipping company. Hmmm! Makes one think, do it not?
But also, Mitch McConnell’s DD-214, from his aborted US Army career from which he was discharged way, way early for “reasons” long obscured by smoke clouds of confusion, has never been seen, to keep “reasons” for that discharge secret.
And Who Knows what those reasons are? Who knows those reasons, or has a copy of that DD-214 has enormous leverage over Senator McConnell, R-Russia.
john b
@Chief Oshkosh: The sequester was in 2012. I know because I lost my contracting job and had to move. it was the absolute dumbest way to inflict unnecessary pain. People seem to think that defense contractors are all people getting rich off of government largess. It’s just as asinine as conservatives thinking that every government employee is a Democrat bureaucrat. They are people, some good, some bad. Mostly just people who are trying to live decent lives.
edit: looking at it, the sequestration itself started jan 2013, but the effects started becoming apparent in the Fall of 2012 as cuts were begining and contracts (in my case) were not renewed with the sequestration on the horizon.
edit 2: Also the hiring freeze meant that the group I worked with couldn’t hire me as govt employee even though they wanted to and had the money to.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Aleta
Employees who bought presents on credit before the shutdown, bet on a paycheck arriving before the next payment was due, or didn’t have the heart to deny their kid a big present they’d been waiting for.
Rs wouldn’t even delay the timing, probably because T was frantic to bury other headlines by lighting up his name in authoritarian drama. War on Christmas. Then he freezes their pay raise to ring in the new year.
Don’t forget to include Pence and Kushner in the blame. Why has the boy genius negotiator refused to come through for us, since he’s so brilliant at negotiating solutions? Does he love Canada more ? (sarcasm)
Chyron HR
@germy:
In fact, only 1/8 of Bernie’s “progressive” supporters voted for Trump when Bernie wasn’t on the ballot in 2016.
kd
Also it’s not true for essential workers if they already scheduled vacation during the shutdown. Their only option is Leave Without Pay and they so they don’t get paid at all:
“Workers cannot substitute paid leave for furloughs if the government is closed. This means that if an employee has already scheduled leave, either for a vacation or medical leave, those paid days off would be cancelled during a shutdown. Workers would have to accept unpaid furloughs.
Congress often approves shutdown pay retroactively for furloughed workers, meaning those who took vacation during their furloughs could eventually get paid for the days they were gone, but those days would not be counted as vacation time.
For employees deemed essential by their agency, the outlook is bleak. Their already scheduled leave would be cancelled during a shutdown and they would be required to come into work or be labeled “Absent Without Official Leave.””
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Here’s an interesting thing that seemed to manifest in last year’s election: I don’t think there are nearly as many of those anonymous Republican millionaires as the Republicans kept claiming. I think that was how they were laundering Russian money into their SuperPACs that have no accountability.
And as I said before, I think someone in the Deep State figured out how to turn off that Russian money spigot prior to the election, because suddenly organizations that were swimming in money for the 2016 election were saying they were going to have to declare bankruptcy.
McConnell is chin-deep in the Russian money shit, and he knows it.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Yes, there are bar-code readers — the problem here is that the actual vote information is encoded in there using a proprietary coding known only to the voting machine manufacturer, which is the whole point of the exercise.
No one can know if there’s funny business going on with the vote encoding. How much is that worth to a shameless, vote stealing, racist, fascist, Republican politician in Georgia?
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
This whole thing is crazy. Are Trump and the Republicans going to accept legislation ending the shutdown, or are they going to wait until a challenge to a “national emergency” plan works through the courts?
I just saw this on CNBC:
What a mess!
Captain C
@Frankensteinbeck:
I’m guessing sadism on his part and significant kompromat on him. With regards to the latter, probably both financial and sexual.
The Moar You Know
@Patricia Kayden: It has been tradition to back pay fed employees after a shutdown. It is not legally required. I would not bet a dime that these poor people are going to be made whole, not with this crew in charge.
They’re going to eat a months-long unpaid vacation. Bet that will help the economy a lot.
John Fremont
@A Ghost To Most: I’m a veteran as well, but I find it ironic that these guys will gripe about the government when their whole career and income has come from federal spending. They did 20 years in the military and get a contractor job or work as a federal DOD employee and repeat all of that right wing stuff
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne:
I am good with his being executed for treason. Or incarcerated for life.
Elizabelle
@John Fremont:
I know. There is no tea partier so fervent as one with a federal pension and all the protections. Those self-made patriots.
Fuck ’em. I know of what you speak.
The Moar You Know
@Mnemosyne: Literally impossible. He doesn’t have a chin.
Gravenstone
Check out this steaming pile of shit. McConnell is secretly working to stop the shutdown.
My ass he is…
The Moar You Know
@John Fremont: As I said before, I’m on the BoD of a defense contractor. And the sole liberal, at least that I’m aware of, in the company. That mindset makes me want to stroke out on a daily basis. They’re Randian masters of the universe making money off their own innovation and sweat of their brow, and truly believe that they have nothing in common with all those “other people” (you know the ones – y’know, black people) getting government money. Their jobs are important.
They all watch Fox, force their underlings to watch Fox, and they all listen to Limpballs and they think they are the underpinnings of American society and can’t be replaced.
Ruckus
@germy:
I combine Uber and Lyft into one word, Luber. And people understand that.
I have never thought this political situation would end well. Of course I thought that when ronnie fired the air traffic controllers. I never thought it would get to the point of a total betrayal of the country by half the political class. We really do need a class – for half the country – of what the Constitution says, what the Bill of Rights says, IOW a civics course for the country. Because this concept that the rich own us, I’m not in for that.
tobie
@John Fremont: @Elizabelle: I’ve seen the same thing with septuagenarians and octogenarians who had decent paying jobs and full pensions with Bell Telephone and DuPont thanks to their unions and now sit around and complain about unions all day. Same with ex-fire fighters. In all these cases the people had no more than a high school education but could have a solid middle class life because of what their unions did for them. Why do they hate their grandchildren’s generation so much???
John Fremont
@The Moar You Know: Agreed. I could see Trump vetoing a bill that includes back pay for furloughed workers saying Nancy Pelosi just gave all those Democrat workers a paid vacation! Then FOX/talk radio will chime in saying hey the private contractors that were furloughed don’t get back pay, why should federal employees get it! This is Pelosi handing out vacations to Democrat bureaucrats!.” I can see that as their next move totally. Anything to depress federal employment and eventually privatize some more federal functions. The GOP have been planning to privatize air traffic control for years for example.
catclub
@John Fremont:
Cognitive dissonance is not just a river in Egypt.
Fleeting Expletive
Remember when Clinton/Gore were somewhat new in office and after some setback, the wise owls of the press pronounced that this was proofed that they could be “rolled” by the republicans and that they indeed had been “rolled”? The macho guys reveled in that. Same when Obama was president. The MSM as always is delighted to pronounce weakness and vulnerability in Democratic leaders. They have a harder time with Nonna Pelosi, because she’s not gettin’ rolled.
Ruckus
@John Fremont:
I work in a small aerospace tooling manufacturer. 8 people total, I’m the only vet. 25 yrs ago when I owned my own company and did the same kind of work, I was the only vet. I have no idea why this has is, just my experience. (25 yrs ago and today we work for the private aerospace industry, mostly Airbus and Boeing)
Now I do know that a lot of military lifers are conservative and they end up in civil service or working for a contractor to the government. They like the usually regular paycheck, and the rules that govern their working lives and that there is an institutionalized power structure. Which may explain partially why the are conservative in the first place.
Fleeting Expletive
To continue: Trump is a LAME DUCK. This is a theme I’m delighted to endorse and promote. This admin is mortally wounded and flailing. Let it continue until we put them out of our misery.
Gex
@catclub: Way late and no one will see this, but I would expect Republicans to use ROT-26
catclub
@Gex: twice as safe as ROT-13
cheers.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
You keep on saying this, and I do believe you. I also believe that Mueller has found and followed the money.
Ruckus
@The Moar You Know:
Give him a break, the toddler in chief – shit for brains – is just trying, in his own uninformed, unlearned, idiotic, perfect way is just trying to balance the budget deficit that he caused with the tax bill he signed for his co-conspirator, No chin from KY.
WRRistow
@Feathers: Boston Globe online reports person struck by MBTA train at Fields Corner Station was taken out by Rescue alive, conscious and responsive. Thoughts and prayers welcomed.
Fair Economist
@Mnemosyne: I agree. No way the NRA was the *only* way Russians were laundering contributions.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
And I should probably say that I really am what I say I am — a middle-aged secretary with 3 cats — and not anyone with any special knowledge. It just seems obvious if you look at the information that’s publicly available.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
They are true believers. In racism. In economic theory as written in crayola on on a sidewalk by a 3 yr old. In racism. In their own ability to have a decent life as long as others don’t. In republican politics.
What they aren’t is patriots. They aren’t for the country. They aren’t for the people. They aren’t for their customers.
They are for themselves – they are fucking selfish. They want it all and will accept less as long as they see others suffering worse than they think they do. IOW they are conservatives. They won’t see the light, any suffering they go through will be justified because others are suffering more. They have no idea what life is, only what it could be like if only everyone was exactly like them. They want to live in Stepford. They want everyone to live in Stepford. Their idea of equality is that everyone is like them.
Ruckus
@Frankensteinbeck:
This isn’t difficult.
They admire the chinless fuck because he hates the same people they do.
They admire him because he wants the same world they do.
They admire him because he’s willing to flip off the nation to get what they want.
They don’t like him personally because he’s a smarmy asswipe, and they know it. If he was just an asswipe that would be OK, he’d be one of them, but he’s a smarmy asswipe, and that’s a bridge too far.
Miss Bianca
@john b: I am so sorry – this shit is just infuriating.
Ruckus
@cain:
And if all of that happens, the toddler in chief – shit for brains – will supposedly get his wall, the dems will have lost and republican politicians will have won. They truly believe that this will work, that they will prevail and that the country will back them up and vote for them forever. And besides the government will be broken, which has always been a conservative ideal. The cost to the rest of us? They think that is great. After all we’ve been charging them taxes for so long and where’s their gold that all the minorities have gotten for doing nothing?
john fremont
@Ruckus: I used to be one of those vets , cracking jokes about libs and government work. Later, it was some federal contracts that kept me employed through the Crash of 2008. Recall that the first items many companies deleted off of their capital expenditures was their flight departments. Many private owners held back as well on getting upgrades on their aircraft which laid off a lot of pilots and mechanics in the industry. Additionally, many people canceled their vacations back then which impacted the airlines. Lastly, with the major banks undergoing receivership or stress testing the commercial loan programs receded. A company I worked for had to delay their production schedules since the customers could not secure financing for new aircraft and upgrade purchases. Unfortunately, most of my cohorts still don’t see the value of the federal and state contracts that kept the cash flow coming in during that time.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
You don’t think he’ll tweet it out at 6am while on the can?
Ruckus
@Fair Economist:
I’m wondering if no chin wants the government shutdown.
First, he is a republican.
Second if the government stays shut down for long enough then it will run out of money and at some point the investigation into the russian interference will have to stop. (Protecting him?) And without a functional government at all there isn’t really much to restart, it can be remade in his likeness.
Dan B
@Punchy: Ha! Anti-oxidants. Chemistry humor… Hoodanode?
Ruckus
@john fremont:
Quite a few people are self serving and seem to believe that the world revolves around the stick up their ass. Their world view is that of a rather young child and has and will never evolved past that stage. We have one not in charge in the WH right now. I believe they like him because they either see themselves in him or would like to be him. They are myopic at best, eyes tight shut at worst.
Quiltingfool
@Spanky: My kitty had similar symptoms – eating a lot of food, thirsty all the time (she would park herself at the bathroom sink and beg for water), lots and lots of pee in the litter box, and losing weight. She has diabetes, and she takes insulin. She is back to normal, and she doesn’t mind the shots.
catclub
@Fair Economist:
All that ANY foreign entity needs to do is incorporate a company in the US, then have that company donate to a 504c3
political action/charity organization… and Bobs yer senator!
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
This is the crazy thing. They evidently don’t believe in their own ability to have a decent live as long as others don’t, because they are willing to let Trump tear down their own quality of life in service to his crazy whims. This is fanaticism.
Strangely enough, they actually do see themselves as patriots. It may be a narrow, crabbed view, but a lot of these people are patriotic. I noted the wife of a guy who served in the military and who now works for FEMA. They do not examine the contradiction between their lives of service and Trump’s narrow nativist beliefs.
I don’t know. If I were not getting paid, and was expected to work for nothing by the president, after a certain point I wouldn’t give a shit about the theoretical or actual suffering of other people.
Obviously, by their own admission, there are Trumpers who acutely believe that Trump is supposed to deliver the hurt to other people. But even for the most devout, there is a difference between wanting as ass kicking for someone else and volunteering to get one yourself. And from your own party.
Dan B
@Brachiator: Who knows how many GOPers believe in the Gold Standard but many believe tha “money” is a “thing”. It has a certain size, like the amount of gold in Fort Knox. The neo-Gold Standard types believe that reducing job numbers cannot change the amount of “money”. Thinking people realize that money is a measure of the amount of flow, ie. commerce. If you reduce employment people consume less. If you increase employment and low income wages you increase spending and prime the economy.
It’s a divide of worldviews, “solids” vs. “flows”. Having a Treasury bureaucrat report lisses to the economy from the shutdown violates the worldview of the “solids / neo Gold Standards”.
LuciaMia
@Yarrow: I keep hearing about Truman tryin to enact it (and keep meaning to Google it) Something about the Steel industry during the Korean War? It was rejected.
sgrAstar
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: moneybombing Stacey Abrams is a fantastic idea! I am so in for that.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
We don’t, once again, actually disagree.
But, they are willing to defy logic and uncommon sense to get the magic bean world they believe in. They will suffer, as long as the groups they despise suffer more. Because that means they are better. BTW does that sound at all familiar – to our toddler in chief?
You want to be OK, in economic terms, in work terms, in life terms. That’s normal, to be OK. They want others to be worse off than them, in economic, work, life terms because they measure things comparatively, not objectively.
Yes, yes it is.
Fanaticism can be defeated by exposure to enough realism that the fanatical ideas become obviously fanatical. Working for no pay, after a while questions will be asked. Step 1, why do they have to suffer to achieve the goals/beliefs they hold? Step 2, finding out they are not in the protected group, that the -ism that allows their beliefs/goals actually applies to them. Step 3, anger at being used and thrown away like a piece of toilet paper because while they think they are in the in group, they are anything but. Step 4, the awakening.
We need to jump to step 4 soon.
Kirk Spencer
I’m two threads late to this, but had a thought that fits better her than above.
See, I was reviewing some crap I had to read a few decades ago and the tracts struck a epiphany re McConnell. Specifically in regard to why he’s chosen this course. It may be a Samson or Phoenix action.
Real short version, the tracts advise that if the worst comes do not go quietly or in peace. Instead sacrifice toward crashing the irredeemable current system that something better can arise from the rubble.
So what if Mitch believes that a black president and gay military are signs that the nation is beyond normal recovery?
It’s speculation. But it’s less wild than I want it to be.
Chief Oshkosh
@john b: @john b: Hi John, I didn’t mean to imply that all government contractors are rich or Republican or assholes. It’s great that you’re none of those. Thanks for the correction about 2012/13 vs 09.
To clarify: I know a lot of people in the aerospace industry, and separately, in the airline industry. Most of them are conservative Republicans. All of them bitched and pissed and moaned about the sequester. The conservative Republicans, though, were the ones who cried the most and cried that the sword should pass over and spare THEM because they were special, not like all the riff-raff sucking off the gubmint teat.
debbie
Have $0.0 paychecks been handed out during previous shutdowns?