In response to a post I shared about the impact of the Trump shutdown on hundreds of thousands of public servants, State Senator Stace Nelson (R-19/Fulton) asserted to me on Twitter Christmas Eve that the four federal shutdowns through which he served in the Marines “did not hurt any military or federal employees.”
Senator Nelson demonstrates a Trumpian lack of empathy and disconnect from pretty plain fact:
Federal employees around the country are cutting back on personal spending and interrupting holiday plans with family because of the government shutdown, according to a new survey of National Treasury Employees Union members.
“Just in case anyone still thinks a partial shutdown over a holiday weekend is harmless, think again,” NTEU National President Tony Reardon said. “Your friends and neighbors around the country who work for the federal government are already showing signs of financial stress” [National Treasury Employees Union, press release, 2018.12.24].
The federal Office of Personnel Management knows the Trump shutdown poses real harms to federal employees. OPM is distributing sample please don’t foreclose letters for paycheckless federal workers to give to their landlords and creditors.
Congress usually approves back pay for federal workers cheated of their regular paychecks by shutdowns, but government contractors may be left in the red:
Many government contractors ― from food workers and janitors to security services and computer software developers ― depend on federal funds for their wages. Since the shutdown, some have seen their jobs furloughed or have received “stop work orders,” meaning they’re out of work until the government is up and running again.
And while federal employees, who may or may not have to work during the shutdown, will likely later get back pay for this period, government contractors in all likelihood will not [Sarah Ruiz-Grossman, “Shutdown Leaves Government Contractors Without Work and Likely No Back Pay,” Huffington Post, 2018.12.27].
The Trump shutdown hurts all Americans by putting public resources and safety at risk:
The survey also asked employees to describe the services to taxpayers that are suspended in a shutdown.
“Park lands are vulnerable to illegal activities and vandalism.”
“Investor complaints not being dealt with. Securities fraud not being pursued.”
“The IRS will not be able to assess or collect taxes needed to actually fund the government.”
“Taxpayers who call me with questions will have calls that go unanswered.”
“Technicians, clerical staff are furloughed. They performed tasks necessary to complete the CBP mission. Now officers are having to fill in which takes more manpower off of the front lines that perform law enforcement duties.”
“This shutdown severely limits me from completing work required to protect citizens from hazardous waste concerns at several facilities” [NTEU, 2018.12.24].
The federal shutdown doesn’t help anyone. To assert that it doesn’t hurt anyone is to ignore the obvious plight of hundreds of thousands of working Americans who depend on regular paychecks as well as the obvious value of the service they provide to their country every day.
Mr. Nelson is supposed to be the smart one of the bunch in Pierre, least wise he seems to lay claim. Coast Guard, 42,000 of them, are not getting paid and they have suffered battle casualties since their beginning. http://www.cgemf.org/combat-deaths
The problem with trumpian republicans like Mr. Nelson, is that they have been dumbed down. They only see shiny object syndrome, in that they are easily distracted by their hatred of women.
54,000 border agents are not getting paid. So trump is endangering the northern border by his ignorance.
From Josh Marshall @TPM- Here’s a remarkable detail about the present government shutdown. The Department of Homeland Security prepared a “to whom it may concern” letter to employees to forward to their creditors. It essentially asks banks, credit card companies and any other creditors to take pity on their employees who can’t cover their debt obligations while they are not being paid. The letter concludes by thanking creditors “for your patience and compassion towards our employees during this time.”
Observation shows, Sen. Nelson has a tendency to state as fact assertions he has no way of proving. (BullSh*t meter approaching maximum)
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-administration-suggests-furloughed-workers-do-chores-for-landlords-to-help-pay-rent
That oughta help. Why not just impeach the orange baby and be done with this foolishness?
@MFI – First, expose him. We’ve been promised tax returns. We want emoluments clause. We want to know why, when Trump learned of Russia’s intent to use WIKI-leaks to undermine USA’s election he stayed illegally silent and didn’t inform the FBI.
Impeachment let’s him off way to easily.
PS – Which is a bigger lie? “If you like your plan you can keep your plan.” or “We’re going to build a big, beautiful wall and Mexico’s going to pay for it.” Lie of the year voting is underway, I believe.
It’s the Schumer shutdown, not the Trump shutdown.
I don’t feel sorry for Federal employees who will be paid for these days off.
Farmers got a nice tariff check from the Government yesterday.
Schumer shutdown? Neither is correct but in politics, it is what it appears to be. It fully appears to be a Trump shutdown and Jason’s third of voters can believe it or not believe it. Machts nichts aka mox nix.
I’m a furloughed federal employee out of Rapid City. I am the major breadwinner for my family. Last year I spent 3 months in another state taking care of my adult son who had cancer. We have 2 boys in high school. Believe me this hurts. I have 1 more pay date and then nothing until I don’t know when. I’m supposed to go crawling to my mortgage holder and other creditors asking for forgiveness because I’m not working due to no fault of my own. I’d rather be on the job. All leave was cancelled and no holiday pay will be received UNLESS Congress authorizes it and the president signs it. Nelson needs to go take a flying leap along with every other Republican who blows this off. This is going to have a ripple effect throughout the communities. We spend our pay checks locally. We support our local communities and charities. Local businesses are going to take a hit. I did no after Christmas shopping. We’ll not celebrate the new year. And we will be cutting back trying to make do.
Well, by blaming Schumer for the shutdown at least Jason now appears to have decided that Donald Trump’s contrary public statements were bald face lies. Trump told Schumer:
Yep, it seems Jason thinks Trump lied about his stupid publicly declared plans. Who would have thunk Jason would throw Trump under the bus as the bald faced liar he is? Nice work Jason!
Even Fox News is having nothing to do with Trump’s lie.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-calls-out-trump-for-flipping-a-180-on-shutdown-blame
I’ve heard this called the Democratic shutdown, the republican shutdown, the Pelosi shutdown, the Trump shutdown, but this is the first I’ve heard it called the Schumer shutdown.
To be clear, at this point the House, Senate, and White House still remain under republican control.
Trump believes that furloughed government employees is okay because most of them are Democrats anyway. Of course the liar-in-chief has no evidence to support this claim.
Aren’t you all enjoying Trump’s “big beautiful shutdown”? No one can do a shutdown better than Trump.
but while the government is shut down, any civil suits against Trump are sidelined as well.
Heartbreaking story, Susan. Condolences to your unwarranted situation.
Not to try and solve people’s problems but if every furloughed gov’t employee set up a Go Fund Me, the bad publicity might convince this “Wall Banger” to think twice, next time. I’ve only donated, not started one but maybe there’s such a thing as a class action Go Fund Me for all workers as a group.
Pelosi today – “Trump’s border wall has turned into a beaded curtain.” Oh, my.
Trump said it would be his shutdown and he was proud of it. And, as we have come to expect of this coward and liar, the minute it happened he blames someone else. The gutlessness of this child is limitless.
My wife is a federal employee. She still has to go to work, even though she isn’t paid. We’ll be scrimping to get by until the shutdown ends. Hopefully she’ll receive her back pay later, but the daycare check is due Monday. If Senator Nelson wants to chip in, it’d be welcome.
We’re in a relatively good financial position compared to many others. It’s a real hardship for people that live without much savings. Hard to believe you have to say such obvious things to people that are in charge of policy.
Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday:
“Forty-seven percent of adults hold Trump responsible, while 33 percent blame Democrats in Congress, according to the Dec. 21-25 poll, conducted mostly after the shutdown began. Seven percent of Americans blamed congressional Republicans.
“Just 35 percent of those surveyed in the opinion poll said they backed including money for the wall in a congressional spending bill. Only 25 percent said they supported Trump shutting down the government over the matter.”
The amount Mango Maniac wants is $5 billion but experts estimate the wall “Mexico will pay for” will cost $23 billion.
This is what wingnuts get for electing an unhinged, fit throwing, whining two year old brat and leave it in charge of government. It is all wingnuts fault and Jason’s.
https://www.mediaite.com/online/shutdown-day-7-trump-reportedly-slashes-border-wall-funding-demand-in-half-dems-wont-budge/
Drumpf is so confident by half.
OT Plane crash in Soo Falls Xmas day killed a doctor Meyer and his wife, JoAnn. She was originally from my neck of the woods.
mike from iowa,
Trump’s tantrums that have caused the most recent of his shutdowns is more evidence that Trump does not work for our government.
Right you are, Roger.
debbo, I haven’t been able to find any survey results showing who Republicans believe to be responsible for the shutdown. As I noted in an earlier post, Trump publicly claimed respopnsibility. But then he backtracked and now blames democrats. Have you been able to find anything showing how republicans have responded?
I am still amazed at Trump’s favorability polling with republicans and their strong majority viewing him as credible despite the documented fiction that seeps endlessly from his sewer shaped lips.
from the Washington Examiner- according to a Huffington Post/YouGov poll released Thursday.
The poll reveals some deep divisions between Republican and Democratic voters.
A total of 84 percent of Republicans — 64 percent of whom strongly approve and 20 percent who somewhat approve — support Trump’s refusal to accept a funding bill that does not include more than $5 billion for enhancing security operations at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The gap is reversed on the other side, with 87 percent of Democrats unhappy with the Republican president’s behavior, according to the Dec. 22-23 poll of U.S. citizens.
https://www.vox.com/2018/12/27/18157515/immigrant-families-detention-border-children-deaths-ice
ICE plans to release hundreds if not thousands of immigrant families and may just dump them near bus stations since shelters are pretty full already.
Another beauty of a plan by the great planner/negotiator/criminal enterprise.
Roger, I was thinking something similar (again) after hearing about the recent troop visit. At first I was impressed that without the normal fanfare, President Trump visited the men and women who put their lives on the line as ordered — I really thought I was seeing a Christmas miracle of a selfless, Presidential act. Then I see the President breaking out the MAGA hats to sign, and I hear the speech full of political degradation of Democrats; and in a flash, the trip was all about him.
Let’s not burry the headline either that this a government shutdown created by a GOP House, GOP Senate, and a GOP President; not is it their first or only.
Of course, it’s not about building a useless wall. Neither was the 100 times the House voted to repeal Obamacare. Both were/are about convincing the shallow gene pool of supporters they’re trying. Oh, yeah. And distracting the same “Mensa members” from the news that Trump employees are going to jail for felonies Trump ordered them to commit.
http://howmanytimeshasthehousevotedtorepealobamacare.com/
Thanks mfi. The results of polling republicans are truely amazing. I might expect a minority, even a strong minority, of republicans declaring that they support demands for wall funding, but 84% and 64% “strongly” – what gives?
Can we conclude that since there are so many republican supporters for the wall funding that a majority also agree that a shutdown to force some wall funding is both the right thing to do and is Trump’s doing, rather than blaming/crediting democrats or Schumer?
Jason blames/credits Schumer (who lacks the power to even require a Senate vote on the issue) – is Jason in the minority among republicans?
This Just In … NYTimes Friday Evening Briefing – President Trump threatened to close the southern border and cut off aid to countries in Central America if Congress refuses to fund a wall. In another tweet, he reiterated his threat to cut off aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, countries he claimed “are doing nothing for the United States but taking our money.”
But Democrats stood firm against Mr. Trump’s demand for $5 billion to pay for a border wall, according to a spokesman for Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California and the incoming House speaker.
“Democrats are united against the President’s immoral, ineffective and expensive wall, the wall that he specifically promised that Mexico would pay for,” he said.
IMO … Trump’s threats are as weak as his hairline.
You got me, bcb. I gave up even trying to understand what drives these people to do the things they do.
I would like to think if these were right thinking people they would give Drumpf the glory of shutting down America, but, I am not sure their minds are centrally located.
I can assure this guy has Drumpf and McCTurtle pegged right.
https://tinyurl.com/yaglttg8 From JobsAnger blogspot.
MFI … They’re not too hard to understand.
An Analysis of Trump Supporters Has Identified 5 Key Traits –
1. Authoritarian Personality Syndrome – Authoritarianism refers to the advocacy or enforcement of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom.
2. Social dominance orientation – In Trump’s speeches, he appeals to those with SDO by repeatedly making a clear distinction between groups that have a generally higher status in society (White), and those groups that are typically thought of as belonging to a lower status (immigrants and minorities).
3. Prejudice – It is a well-known fact that the Republican party, going at least as far back to Richard Nixon’s “southern strategy,” used strategies that appealed to bigotry, such as lacing speeches with “dog whistles”—code words that signaled prejudice toward minorities that were designed to be heard by racists but no one else.
4. Intergroup contact – Trump’s white supporters have experienced significantly less contact with minorities than other Americans.
5. Relative deprivation – Relative deprivation refers to the experience of being deprived of something to which one believes they are entitled.
READ MORE HERE … https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201712/analysis-trump-supporters-has-identified-5-key-traits
Happy holidays everyone
I was at a border yesterday
Guess what they don’t give a sht about? A wall
Technical equipment would help that was consistent
Depends on who you ask and if they will talk
What about the trafficking already in play in the USA? When I asked about all this trafficking coming in. That was the answer Interesting.
Ah. I see. Mr. H has instituted censorship, no doubt in fear of how the elections in two years will have an outcome. With all the out-of-state name callers becoming a more prominent part of people’s campaigns, Mr. H is right to tamp down on the swearing. Gosh darn it, for us swearers. And you too, Bill.
Susan: the Navy Federal Credit Union offers interest-free loans for affected federal employees. https://www.navyfederal.org/about/government-shutdown.php?intcmp=hp|cont|4|clns|shutdown|govshutdown|12/22/2018|||
Wall?! the Great Wall of China, the Maginot Line, etc., never has a wall worked. What a moronic, middle age idea.
The 2,000 Mile Wall in Search of a Purpose. “Since 2007 Visa Overstays have Outnumbered Undocumented Border Crossers by a Half Million” In other words, the “illegals” got here legally and then overstayed. How simple is that to understand? Here, read it for yourselves. http://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-visa-overstays-border-wall/
Even more criminal acts by Mango Moron, written by Sheila Kennedy, with sources, as always.
https://goo.gl/1TosdE
Trump logic or lack thereof:
Today Trump threatened to shutdown the border with Mexico if he didn’t get his $5 billion for his wall, if Trump has the power to shutdown the border, why does he need a damn wall?
Jason, like Trump, must shut off his empathy and sense of facts to justify his position.
If you hire someone, promise to pay that person for daily work, then either decline to give that person work on days regularly scheduled for work or require that person to come to work but decline to give a regularly scheduled paycheck, you are a bad employer, causing harm to that employee.
You are an even worse employer if, like Trump, you break those promises to your employees because you are throwing a tantrum against your board of directors who refuse to approve a bad policy that you are clinging to solely out of ego rather than out of any rational cost-benefit analysis.
(Grudz, I block certain foul words because such words generally degrade the conversation and could impact search-engine results. No editorial decision I make is done because I’m worried someone might make it a campaign issue later. Nonetheless, folks need to learn to distinguish what I say from what commenters say.)
Moar Drumpf headaches- https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-republicans-unceremoniously-end-probe-into-fbi-doj-bias-against-trump-in-favor-of-clinton
Susan – I am so sorry what has and is happening to you and your family. The selfishness and temper tantrum by the person at the top is inexcusable. I hope you and your family get some relief soon.
Jason – Just a reminder. GOP controls ALL three branches of gov’t until Jan 3. Trump bragged that he would own the shutdown. Remind me again what math you use to come to the conclusion that the Dems are responsible? Bonus material – mr trump has been giving bi-partisan bills to keep the gov’t funded until almost spring. He has rejected them. Tell me again how that is the D’s responsibility?
More bonus tips – You celebrate the farmers getting tax payer funded relief checks. You do realize this massive amount of tax payer money being spent is a bail out, right? A bail out that GOP’ers once decried, but now celebrate? That never would have happened, EVER, if the trump tariffs had never been put into play? Right? You realize this, right?
I’m tired of taxpayers footing the bill for the reckless, incompetent and idiotic guy that sits in the oval office
……and I’m tired and angry, that innocent people like Susan and her family, and paying a heavy price for the tantrum president. I’m angry that these innocent folks are being used as a political football.
Inexcusable. This isn’t governing. Not even close.
I’m sure the border patrol are real enthused about working for free to do the wall thingy. Talk about feeling like suckers. “Federal employees considered “non-essential” at affected departments have been furloughed, while “essential” ones ― including thousands of workers at the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and members of the Coast Guard ― are required to work without pay until the shutdown ends.”
So now the indentured servants wait until the Adderall kicks in again and we go onto another crisis.
“Direct payments to farmers covered by payouts intended to blunt the impact of Mr. Trump’s tariff war with China could be delayed .. because the workers processing them have been furloughed.” trumpian republicans, here is what you voted for. How do you like them apples? The worst part is for those who did not or will never support trump and his evil agenda, you’re in the crossfire of the feces throwing while your soybean harvest sits in limbo.
The red states are far more dependent on the federal government than are the blue states. The red (welfare) states, like SD, continually vote against their interest. Cut the federal government programs on which they depend – especially the USDA.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/business/economy/harlan-county-republican-welfare.html
John and Jerry
Totally agree cut the aid
Quit the playing on county to county with reported acres and the aid. Quit the family members each collecting and Just farm
Let’s see how many of the trump supporters can make it then
These are same people crying for drug testing on Medicaid . Makes me roll my eyes every time. The supporters in our area think it’s short term with trump and they will be paid in gold at the end. Anyone that reads know the tariffs war are long term affects.
The payments have funded our community for decades.
If the Democrats agree to fund the wall that was mandated years ago the shut down would be over.
Why isn’t Congress following the law?
Dana P, If Republicans had 60 votes in the Senate, there would be no shutdown now.
Starting with auditing folks like the two racists filing law suits against the ladies in District 27, If trumpian republicans wanted to fund the wall they could. They could build a wall on the southern border, the northern border, the eastern and western seaboards. We could become a walled wall to wall, wall. The first thing to do is collect the taxes that are due, including the back taxes. Opp’s, I forgot about the Caribbean, we would have enough to build that wall there as well.
Simply hire the IRS to audit and collect the taxes that are due. Take a look at this and you will see what I mean https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted
Drumpf froze federal workers pay for the new year. That oughta hemlp.
MFI beat me to that scoop – how does that make sense in the context of not getting paid already? It is worth adding that this freeze is in opposition to the Senate (the House did not officially act before they got out of town, but were positioned toward a raise). GOP cannot get on the same page of their own playbook.
Here is an interesting piece about the Trump bubble: “Apprentice ” producers had to edit episodes to retro-fit coherence into Trumps words and actions. Now I understand my frustration — I have been watching the President in REAL time.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/12/mark-burnett-profile-in-the-new-yorker-apprentice-producers-struggled-to-make-trump-and-his-decisions-seem-coherent.html
Jason, why should Democrats agree to fund a wall that the President promised Mexico would pay for?
Why doesn’t the President follow his promises?
If Republicans had 100 votes in the Senate, there still would still be a shutdown.
o wrote:
If Republicans had 100 votes in the Senate, there still would still be a shutdown.
That is false.
Fact #1: The Wall was mandated to be built by a prior Congress.
Fact #2: If 100 Senators voted to pass the spending bill that the House passed there would be no shutdown.
Fact #1: The wall was to be paid by Mexico. Why shut down the US government over Mexican funding?
Fact #2: “If 100 Senators . . . ” The GOP has nowhere close to that solidarity with this President.
He only needs sixty votes 0.
Your statement was a lie.
Jason-you are an idiot.
Trump needs 60 votes in the Senate and he won’t get it.
The only thing Democrats have to bring up is that Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall and, of course, they won’t.
Sadly people like Jason fell for this lie.
Jason trying to mislead and misdirect the discussion by posting incomplete data? Who’d a thunk it?
The mandate to build a wall was overruled the next year (2007).
[The original 2006 act provided for “at least two layers of reinforced fencing” to be built. However, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) successfully argued to Congress “that different border terrains required different types of fencing, that a one-size-fits-all approach across the entire border didn’t make sense.” An amendment introduced by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, was passed, amending the law to read: “nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Fence_Act_of_2006
if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location.
I’m sure if was just an oversight for you to leave that last sentence off right Porter?
To follow up on Porter’s point regarding the 2006 Secure Fence Act, two points:
(1) a “fence” is not a “wall” made of precast concrete slabs, rising 35 to 40 feet in the air as promised by Trump.
(2) Jason apparently doesn’t realize that a subsequent Article I Congress has the constitutional authority to deny enforcement funding for, repeal, change or amend any law enacted by an earlier Congress. That is one reason elections matter!
Of course Congress can undo a law.
Did Congress undo this law BCB?
Yes, Congress has nullified this law by not funding it. It’s part of the process.
It’s still a law and Democrats do not want to follow the law. That’s what the American people are seeing now.
Jason, it has been my experience on this blog that you often ask questions but are unwilling to respond to my questions, which shuts down any meaningful direct dialog between us. From now on I will consider responding to your questions directly only after you have decided you also are ready to respond to my questions directly – you can start by responding to my last questions on the Nelson thread if you like.
Until then, however, I encourage you comment on my posts as you see fit and I will do the same with yours. But I will no longer respond to your questions directly, nor ask you questions.
What question of yours did I not answer BCB?
It’s not a law that includes funding. Funding is a separate issue on every mandate. But, lets regress and eliminate Jason’s misdirection.
Republicans had total control of Congress and the White House for two years. Why hasn’t funding been achieved? Two reasons that remain still.
– Two out of three Americans don’t want to spend $5 billion for a wall.
– Someone, in his campaign rhetoric gone foolish, promised that Mexico would pay for it.
A law is a law Porter.
A border wall works very well for Israel.
A law without funding is what you have. Sit on it, Republicans. Spin if you choose. There will never be a wall as long as Democrats have the ability to win elections. Because … Americans don’t live behind walls. Never have and never will. Statue of Liberty, you know.
Jason is starting to attack Muslims, now. Watch out, Miranda.
“A report in May 2008 by the Congressional Research Service found “strong indication” that illegal border-crossers had simply found new routes.[13] A 2017 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, found that from fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2015, the U.S.-Mexico border fence had been breached 9,287 times, at an average cost of $784 per breach to repair.[14] The same GAO report concluded that “CBP cannot measure the contribution of fencing to border security operations along the southwest border because it has not developed metrics for this assessment.”[12] GAO noted that because the government lacked such data, it was unable to assess the effectiveness of border fencing, and therefore could not “identify the cost effectiveness of border fencing compared to other assets the agency deploys, including Border Patrol agents and various surveillance technologies.”
In short, what we knew in 2006 and what we know now is that a “wall or fence or whatever you want to call it” will not work. What we need is the infrastructure projects promised by trump and voted on to put him in office, where is that? Is this wall a works program for Mexicans?
Jason implicitly claims not to know what questions he didn’t answer. Such a claim of ignorance contradicts the evidence. I asked him several questions pertaining to our discussion on violating the oath of office on a very recent thread:
https://dakotafreepress.com/2018/12/09/nelson-drafts-bill-to-force-docs-to-provide-medically-unnecessary-fetal-images-and-audio/#comment-124270
After ignoring this question he posted yet another comment and in the very next comment I again asked:
https://dakotafreepress.com/2018/12/09/nelson-drafts-bill-to-force-docs-to-provide-medically-unnecessary-fetal-images-and-audio/#comment-124324
No response.
Israel’s fence violates international law. Why is it still standing?
In 2003, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that stated the wall contradicts international law and should be removed; the vote was 144–4 with 12 abstentions.[15]
In “Jason speak” (as determined by a thousand examples over the years) no response means you’ve beaten his argument.
The argument that a wall has worked well for Israel or for China seems misplaced. In both cases Israel and China were actually at war, or faced terrorism from people living in the bordering countries or geographical area. The U.S. and Mexico are not at war, they are allies. Indeed, they have been at peace since 1848, a 170 year period of peace. There is no evidence of a threat of terrorism from any of our Mexican neighbors.
More analogous is the Berlin Wall seperating people for political purposes, rather than self defense. And as we know, even President Reagan detested the Berlin Wall, as did all freedom loving people.
The reality is that building a wall on our southern border will harm the people of the U.S. It harms our reputation and standing as a free country. It will waste taxpayer dollars for no reasonable or moral purpose. It undermines confidence in American law enforcement by suggesting our police force is unable to deal with criminals from south of our border. It creates animosity and hatred toward other people for no other reason than their nationality. It adversely affects wildlife and our environment. It undermines property rights of U.S. citizens and Mexicans that own property along the border. In short, opposing any funding for the wall has nothing to do with Trump, rather, it has everything to do with avoiding harm to the U.S. and wasting tax dollars.
A wall will not harm US Citizens.
A wall will harm US Citizens. See evidence identified in comment at 14:23.
And to save time:
. . . will not, will too, will not, will too, will not, will too, ad infinitum . . . .
Jason, that’s a decision every voter decides, not you. A wall would harm me, immeasurably. I’m proud to be an American and a wall would diminish that pride. That your paranoid nationalism would be stroked means little to 2/3’s of USA voters. In short … you lose. No Wall. Move along and hate somebody else. You seem to have an endless supply.
Jason, I thought Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall?
I can’t believe Trump is a liar!
That’s not evidence BCB, that’s an opinion.
There is ample evidence out there that a wall works.
Owen,
Did he say how they would pay?
They can be paying for it indirectly.
Do you really want to have a discussion about Presidents breaking their campaign promises?
Pay for it indirectly? How does that work? Do they meditate and it just goes away?
It is one thing for Jason to claim evidence exists.
It is altogether another thing to identify what evidence you contend exists.
Without identifying the evidence claimed to exist, the claim has no substance.
As for my opinion, actually these are all facts quickly verifiable through Google, or any search engine, inquiries:
– the U.S. has been at peace with Mexico for 170 years.
– the U.S. has not suffered any terrorist attacks from people living in Mexico
– the wall would adversely affect property rights of private individuals owning biorder property
– a wall would interfere with wildlife movement across the border
– Ronald Reagan opposed the Berlin wall
– Israel, in contrast the the U.S., faces terrorist attacks from Hamas, who resides on the other side of the border
– China, in contrast the the U.S., faced warring invasions from other countries
– East Berlin, like the U.S., was not at war with West Berlin and did not experience terrorist attacks from West Berliners
– the Berlin wall was constructed for political purposes
If Jason disagrees with any of these facts, I would be happy to consider his contrary evidence, or review and respond to any links he can find disputing these facts.
Jason, you mean it is illegal when Republicans de-fund SNAP or PlannedParenthood, or don’t enforce EPA regulations?
Jason: “A wall will not harm US Citizens.”
That doesn’t seem very pro-life. It is almost like you have decided what qualifies as “life” worth defending with US law and what “lives” do not matter.
Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall. That’s not happening.
Trump is a liar. Period. He proves it everyday
Jason: “Do you really want to have a discussion about Presidents breaking their campaign promises?”
I DO! I DO! IDO!
trump folds on the wall and on Syria, Rush and Ann head for the fainting couch …Think about that, all it takes for sensibility is for Democrats to enter the building. Pierre will never see that sense and sensibility left the building 40 years ago. “Graham says Republicans are going to put on the negotiating table ideas that Democrats have embraced in the past as a way to move past the current impasse and government shutdown over funding for the President’s wall, which Trump initially promised would be paid for by Mexico.
Graham is specifically calling for helping young “Dreamer” immigrants remain in the U.S. as well as another 400,000 people from countries struggling with natural disasters or armed conflicts.” So it now looks like we can get immigration back on full discussion and action. Not a minute too soon either.
So what about our Number 2, where is he? “The Pay Our Coast Guard Act was introduced by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) to do so in 2015 but did not get traction.” Washington Post 12/29/2018
Number 2 should be wailing about all of this and where is the tall boy? From being a Number 3 and now moving up the bowel of leadership to a full fledged Number 2, why is he so silent?
“The shutdown could affect about 42,000 active-duty Coast Guardsmen and 1,300 civilians assigned to the service, said Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride, a service spokesman. An additional 7,400 Coast Guard civilians are now on indefinite furlough.” Same article
trump and his accomplices are so dumb they want to build a wall, but they don’t want to pay for the protections we are now not paying for. The Coast Guard protects the coasts, what part of border security don’t they get? Border Patrol agents (check out their name) protect our hard borders, once again, what part of border security don’t these failed officials get?
How many Russians are sneaking into the country? Who’s guarding Butina? Who’s going to stop Arlo Guthrie from dumping trash on the side of the road? It’s a hot mess. ツ
LOL! Fakey trump will have to tell his rabid dummies that this was all a metaphor and that now he finally got the message that Democrats have told him to shove it up his flabby whatacallit.
“WASHINGTON — Three confidants of President Donald Trump, including his departing chief of staff, are indicating that the president’s signature campaign pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border would not be fulfilled as advertised.” Washington Post 12/31/2018
Maybe now we can get immigration reform that really will save our country. Already, there is a relief of adding 400,000 more refugees in to help us keep up. Thanks Democrats for standing for America! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
““To be honest, it’s not a wall,” Kelly said, adding that the mix of technological enhancements and “steel slat” barriers the president now wants along the border resulted from conversations with law enforcement professionals.” From the same article today.
trumpers, ya’all got hoodwinked and you screwed your country in the process, shame on you all for being such a bunch of racists.
Jerry,
In a matter of hours Trump will have to face some realities with a new congress to contend with. Nancy Pelosi surely won’t put up with Trump’s childishness and likely has a plan to end run Trump’s shutdown. What is Nancy’s plan?
Nancy will continue to be 10 jumps ahead of Moronic Maniac and at least 5 ahead of his “advisors.”
Genuine conservatives, implode the GOP and form the US Conservatives Party (?) to provide a healthy balance for US governing.
I am curious how Trump will behave when faced with a true opposition party in Congress.
https://twitter.com/SenJohnThune/status/1079520661830291456/photo/1
OUCH!
If you can’t say something nice about Marlboro Barbie, blast him!
@CAH There was more to the exchange . Not cool that you didn’t extend the courtesy of tagging my Twitter account or posting my exact comments. It is intellectually dishonest to solely blame President Trump for the shortcomings of Congress, and the current federal shutdown.
Stace it’s totally fair. Trump said he’d take the blame for the shutdown. You can’t get any clearer then that.
@Owen When Democrats blamed President Bush for everything, and Republicans blamed President Obama, I remained consistent in pointing out we do not have a monarchy in which the POTUS is omnipotent in our form of government. The reality is the founders imbued the people’s branch with more power than the other two branches. Congress passed a bipartisan bill to build the wall years ago https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2006/10/20061026-1.html blaming President Trump now for the impasse over the border wall is dishonest.
There’s no blame. Trump’s demand for a wall is to placate the simple thinkers among your party, Stace. It seems,you’re one of them.. GOP had control of the gov’t for two entire years. Why didn’t you appropriate the money? Hmmmm? Because the power (in your political party) likes, needs and employs the undocumented workers. It’s only the racist, nationalist, emotionalist voters that fear new comers. It’s been that way since your family immigrated here, Stace. If Republicans wanted a wall they’d have begun to build it instead of spending their time giving Trumpy a tax break.
The wall and abortion will never be solved because republicans don’t want it solved. The Great Wall of China demanded some 350,000 to 500,000 guards, the US would need double that to monitor the fraud. Adding at least that many more civil servants, with healthcare and retirement needs, would not drown government in a bathtub. They can hide behind those curtains of hate to get money from fools.
Immigration will be solved because the powers that rule the country have demanded it. No way that Wall Street and the big banks can make it without immigrants to work and to purchase goods as the rich don’t buy anything. Capitalism depends on immigrants, look at history.
@Porter National defense is the top legitimate duty of the federal government. I am not the one that is such a simpleton that I need to troll blogs in another state.. Rightful criticism of the past “Republican” Congress. You belong to the party that in fact enslaved new comers and I belong to the party and am a descendent of those who fought to free them. I have brought legislation to combat the modern day equivalent. You aid and abet those who exploit illegals and facilitate the depression of American workers’ wages through illegal labor. Hope your day is nice, way over in Colorado.. 😉
These words for you Mr. Nelson and your cronies: https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1079159121277001731?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1079159121277001731&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftalkingpointsmemo.com%2F
There is no national defense in this crooks words, there is only hate while he hires them illegally and fraudulently at his crooked businesses.
Sen. Nelson … Way “UP” here in Colorado we try not to discriminate where ideas and money come from. That’s why we’re in the top ten most innovative and prosperous states. Big business can’t move here fast enough.
Your post contains six falsehoods; schooling you is futile, time wasting and unimportant. Have a nice day and wash your tractor.
Stace, talking about being fair, is it “fair” to refer to the 2006 Secure Fence act as the same as President Trump’s “Wall?”
I do agree that national defense/security is (A) top priority for the Feds (I also put “promote the general welfare” as equal), and I get that border security is part of that discussion, but I have to also believe there is some basic level of humanity – even kindness we are compelled to offer to those who seek better lives in our nation’s bounty. If our policy degrades to just “keep them out,” then are we really willing to say that we are willing to let the bodies stack like cordwood on that fence/wall/border — as long as it is on “their side?” Instead of a fence/wall, the border will be one long refugee camp.
Just after candidate Trump really started the “Build the Wall” campaign chant, I remember being on vacation and seeing “World War Z” and “Pacific Rim.” I have seen the future – walls do not work (at least against zombies and kaiju).
I would like to propose a new premise of the President’s shut down motives: This is not about the wall (he has caved on that many times); it is about union breaking and attacking federal workers who by HIS analysis are Democrat and union by nature. The shut down is the ultimate management lock-out.
Compound this with unilateral action to implement a federal pay freeze.
National Security talk is a joke when the powers that be refuse to end Russian interference in our elections.
National Security talk is a joke when our illegally elected CIC sides with our sworn enemy and against his very own Intelligence groups.
National Security is a joke when the pathological liar in chief lies more than 10 times per day he has been in office and the world looks at America as a big joke.
I am trying to determine when the last time our “national security” required the US to try to keep out immigrants who want to come here for safety, a better life and to join all the people already living here in work, play and the defense from actual enemies.
Correct me if I am wrong Stace, but didn’t our last war with Mexico end in 1848?
That’s right, Bear. That was when USA stole half of CO, all of the Southwest states and Southern CA from Mexico. Technically, the immigration isn’t illegal at all. Like the Lakota, it’s still their property. Time to give it back. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raza_Unida_Party
@Stace. Maybe if this bipartisan bill would have passed in 2013 two things might have happened. Trump might not be President and there would be no talk about a useless wall. Lots of blame to go around.
https://www.propublica.org/article/washington-congress-immigration-reform-failure
I see you’re still trying to spread the BS about slavery. Sad
https://www.americanbar.org/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/human_rights_vol38_2011/human_rights_winter2011/9-11_transformation_of_us_immigration_law_policy/
The decade since September 11, 2001, has seen a remarkable transformation of U.S. immigration law and policy. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, as concerns grew about a possible terrorist presence in the United States, the federal government—along with many in the public at large—linked immigration screening and enforcement to the protection of national security. Consequently, lawmakers, federal agencies that engage with immigrants, and the courts that adjudicate immigration matters began to adapt their roles and responsibilities to meet the objectives of the War on Terror.
Indeed, during the last ten years, an emphasis on national security has seeped into U.S. immigration laws, policies, and agencies. Border areas and ports of entry are now framed as potential sources of vulnerability; correspondingly, the federal government has increased its oversight of noncitizens who seek to enter the United States and has imposed restrictions on arriving aliens, including asylum seekers.
@Stace. Big difference between that “fence” and what Trump wants. Even Trump called the 2006 wall a “nothing wall.”
So you’re making a false and misleading statement with no context-as you’ve done before. Don’t feel bad. Other right-wingers do the same thing.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/apr/23/mick-mulvaney/fact-check-did-top-democrats-vote-border-wall-2006/
@Owen You are becoming more and more shrill and desperately offensive in your comments. Your desperate need to ignore historic facts does not change them. The Democratic Party was in fact the political party that advocated for the expansion of slavery and in fact was the entity that declared war on the USA to expand slavery. The Democratic Party opposed the 13th (abolishing slavery), the 14th granting them itizenshio, the 15th (the right to vote), AND the 19th (gave women the right to vote). They were also in fact responsible for Jim Crow laws, lynching laws, the KKK, segregation, etc., etc., ad nauseam. Claiming the 2006 bill did not build portions of a security wall on the Southern border is simply ignorant propaganda.
@Stace. I’m not going to go down that road about you trying to change history.
Read the link I posted. The only thing offensive is that you’re trying to support a guy like Trump. All is trying to do is to distract to what’s coming and that’s Robert Mueller.
Security fence is not a wall. Game, set and match to Owen.
The Dem party of the 1800’s is the wingnut party of today.
The Democratic Party has a lot to answer for, but let’s not let the Republican Party off the hook. In 1877 the Republican Party abandoned efforts to assure black civil rights in order to maintain political power. Rather than half slave and half free, they capitulated to separate and unequal. This allowed for lynching and Jim Crow laws and another hundred years of mistreatment and struggle. It turned out Republicans weren’t as committed to the cause to end all vestiges of slavery and slave culture, as they were to maintaining political power. The Republicans should have sent more troops into the South and crushed the Southern resistance to freedom at that time, rather than withdrawing them. They didn’t do so, and the country paid the price for Republican fecklessness.
Democrats have largely disavowed that history since the 1940s, while the Republican Party accreted the racists who left the Democratic Party. They did this increasingly with a purpose, and have become infested with racists.
First of the month and someone got their opioid prescription filled. Really let’s out the inner pachyderm while it soothes the pain.
Most people recognize that we simply don’t have enough resources to enforce every law equally. Rational people recognize we are safer by giving enforcement priority to some laws over other laws. Which leads to the question of which law violators should worry us the most. Rationally, it seems that our fear of violators, hence enforcement priorities, naturally would be in this order:
(1) laws that prohibit a person from physically harming another person, or engaging in conduct that has a reasonable potential of physically harming another person.
(2) laws that prohibit a person from interfering with the property rights of another person.
(3) technical laws that prohibit otherwise harmless behavior for political reasons alone.
Violators that cross the border without papers, or overstay a visa, seem to fall in the 3rd catagory. Border crossing without papers, or overstaying visas, appears on the surface to threaten no physical harm to anyone, nor threaten anyone’s property. And while some violators may later commit other crimes that cause harm, there is no logical cause, nor even correlation, with the border crossing or non renewal of a visa. Indeed, their percentages are fewer than U.S. citizens who commit crimes in categories 1 and 2.
It says a lot for the power of propaganda when it can lead so many U.S. citizens to be sucked into fearing category 3 technical offenses that threaten no ones’ safety or property, as much as, or even more than, category 1 or 2 offenses.
Adderall has kicked in on trump. Pretty quick, the Number 2 in the senate will be wanting to put a fence around “State of Absaroka (proposed)”
Absaroka, (pronounced ab-SOR-o-ka) was an area in the United States, comprising parts of the states of Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming, that contemplated secession and statehood in 1939. The region’s complaints came from ranchers and independent farmers in remote parts of the three states, who resented the New Deal and Democratic control of state governments, especially the government of Wyoming” Does this sound like the spoiled brats we have in trump land? Some things just never change and that is why we are so sophisticated as in duh.
In recent days Trump has suggested that he wants a ten foot wall on the border, like the ten foot wall around President Obama’s home in Washington, D.C.
There is no wall around President Obama home, since he moved there a security fence was added by the Secret Service.
Another Trump lie, just like the lie of making Mexico pay for the border wall.
@Owen The only one attempting to change history is you. It is historic facts within the Democratic Party’s own past party platforms, in their articles of secession, in their voting records in Congress. You cannot go down that road as there is no road you can go down.
@Donald Pay That is the most tortured logic I believe I have ever witnessed. Blaming Republicans for Democrats efforts to preserve and expand slavery is as bad as your Socialist kin’s propaganda blaming the Jews for their war mongering in the 1930’s. No, the Democrats in fact did not disavow or apologize for their horrid institutional racist past in the 1940’s. They in fact terrorized blacks in the South with lynchings, Jim Crow laws, segregation, Japanese American internment’s, etc, well into the early 1970’s.
Would you agree Mr. Nelson that the Democratic Party in those days you mention has now changed into the Democratic Party it is today? Would you also agree that the Republican Party of those days you mention has now changed into the Republican Party it is today?
Mr. Nelson, I know this is gonna be a tough one, so I have included this for you to read and listen to. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-government-and-civics/american-civics-parent/american-civics/v/history-of-the-republican-party
So there ya go, did you hear and see when the whole thing went topsy turvey? Hint, how you and yours reversed itself….
I imagine there are plenty of facts that Stace has tried to bend to support his argument about the past. I would think that if he does not want to be associated with racists as a legislator today, however, he would look around him and try to ascertain which party currently advocates modern racist, or similarly motivated, public policies.
For example, the “wall.” Is it racist today to shut down the government unless the U.S. is funded to take a stand against the entry into the U.S. of Mexicans or folks from South America by erecting a wall to exclude them? What is it about those people that republicans find so fearful and objectionable?
It is unlikely the danger they represent to safety or property, nor a fear of war, as pointed out above. If that were the case, republicans first would be advocating for a wall between the confederate states and the union, as confederates engaged in war against the U.S. more recently than Mexicans or South Americans. And, statistically, violent and property crime rates seem to be much higher for U.S. citizens and legal residents than people without papers, refugees and immigrants from Mexico and South America.
Perhaps because immigrants have a different native language than English? That seems an odd reason to support a wall, especially when we teach many languages in our schools, and for most folks, learning more than one lannguage is considered a positive asset. Indeed, we welcome people who speak French, German and the Scandinavian languages, and our U.S. citizens speak many dialects of English that are nearly incomprehensible to people outside a particular geographic region.
Think, think, what could it be if not some sort of racism, perhaps mere xenophobia? But wait, what about the Irish, haven’t we taken recent steps to increase Irish immigration? And we don’t seem to fear Europeans. And what about Canadians, we don’t seek a wall on the northern border?
Could it be religion? But aren’t most Mexicans and South Americans Christians, often Catholics, an accepted and quite popular religion among our U.S. population?
No, it doesn’t appear to be danger, language, xenophobia, religion – these differences don’t provide an answer to the question – why wall off these particular folks?
Pray tell, Stace, what is the inherent characteristic that instills your fear and hatred of people from south of our border shared by modern day republicans, in contrast to the generous and loving forerunners to the republican party that you describe, with their laudable historical lack of racism?
What could it be that now suddenly makes you so proud of the current republican party’s desire to exclude Mexicans and South Americans, if not your party’s fear of darker complected people with minor different facial and hair characteristic than typical Scandinavians and Europeans, i.e. racial characterics?
Politico has pointed out during the past 2 years when Drumpf and wingnuts controlled the government, there was never a demand for funding the wall to keep the government open. What changed?
I’m not going down that road Stace because even when I present you evidence you blow it off.
Besides I’d rather talk about Trump and how sad it is that you support a guy who is as anti-Christian as they come. A guy that just wants to be President to the low-info people who back him.
Yes I wasn’t a fan of either Bush or Reagan. I disagreed with their policies but none of them were as bad and less presidential then Trump.
Dems in 2006 had a moral choice to make- vote for a wall or allow wingnuts to declare all immigrants felons.
From BCB, “And, statistically, violent and property crime rates seem to be much higher for U.S. citizens and legal residents than people without papers, refugees and immigrants from Mexico and South America.”
Yes, white males are the biggest killers in this nation. Should we wall them off?
“Politico has pointed out during the past 2 years when Drumpf and wingnuts controlled the government, there was never a demand for funding the wall to keep the government open. What changed?”
one word MFI-“Mueller.”
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t there money allocated for the wall from previous budgets that hasn’t been spent? It seems that it was a significant amount.
Here is more of how republicans think, the last Trump shutdown was over 3 or 4 billion dollars for health care, republicans said we couldn’t afford it.
Suddenly republicans think they can make $5 billion appear for a racist wall, but they don’t want to pay for the healthcare for its citizens.
Our public National Parks are overflowing with crap from the crap that trump and his accomplices have let overflow.
WASHINGTON — Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the West’s iconic national parks on Monday, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty.
“It’s a free-for-all,” Dakota Snider, 24, who lives and works in Yosemite Valley, said by telephone Monday, as Yosemite National Park officials announced closings of some minimally supervised campgrounds and public areas within the park that are overwhelmed.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/shutdown-nightmare-park-bathrooms-overflowing-human-waste-vandals-causing-damage-n953406?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma
I don’t suppose anyone in South Dakota makes a living off of the National Parks we have in our state because we are all to busy being trumpers to notice the crap storm. Tourism, bah humbug.
what about the Irish, haven’t we taken recent steps to increase Irish immigration?
Lyin’ Paul Ryan gave out 5-10k visas for Irish workers as a parting gift from his Speakership.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6500413/Paul-Ryan-attacked-rushing-10-000-visas-Irish-nationals-leaving-office.html
Mr. jerry, maybe those fellows running the parks should go pick up the mess or shut down the roads. I’m just sayin…
grudznick, for one, wishes they would banish people in general from these park areas and institute an allotment system to only let a certain number of people in each day. Or maybe make ticket prices be much, much higher so only a less number of people would go and leave their poop.
trump will not allow them to shut the gate like in the past. trumpian republicans likes them some chaos and the smell of feces, that they mostly throw from themselves. Second for two, you sound like all of the rest of the trumpian republicans Mr. grudznick, always wanting to keep the common folks down. This world was made for us all sir, not just the privileged.
trumps new Attorney General sees no reason for a wall between Mexico and the United States. So there ya go. https://www.facebook.com/newshour/videos/2275562532688876/
Ya have the Chief of Staff calling it nutty and now the Attorney General calling it unnecessary. So what gives with the dummy trump?
http://juanitajean.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/crmlu190103.gif
Someone finally tells Drumpf Russia has an American hostage. Funny and most likely the one true thing that ever passed Drumpf’s lips.
Speaking of Drumpf, Russian lawyer at Drumpf tower meeting charged by Manhattan’s US Attorney’s office.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/russian-lawyer-infamous-trump-tower-meeting-charged-obstructing-money-laundering-probe/
Bet there is a Mueller tie in somewhere.
Martial Law could be possible tonight. Think of that folks, are you ready for a dictatorship just to shut down an investigation of Russian influence?
“Under the powers delegated by such statutes, the president may seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, assign military forces abroad, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication, regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel, and, in a variety of ways, control the lives of United States citizens.” Nice little country we once had here. Freedom??? Let’s see how that works for us if a National Emergency is declared over a friggin phony wall.
Stace,
You need to read some history. The Republican Party is now the party of racists. It is clear to everyone. Just ask the racists. David Duke will tell you that the Republican Party is the party of the racists.
The Democrats started to kick the segregationists out in the 1940s and 1950s. Some did hang on until the early 1960s. I remember well the Democratic conventions where black delegations (called Freedom Delegations) protested and challenged the all-white delegations from Southern States at conventions. I remember how the Voting Rights Act finally passed, and how the current Republican Party is doing all they can to undermine the Voting Rights Act and the rights of people to vote.
Donald,
The Republican party is not the party of racists.
You statement is an opinion and is not based on facts.
I’m not saying the GOP is the party of racists, but all the racists think it is.
Donald, ya nailed it man! Yep, the trumpian republican party is the party of white supremacy as shown by the ridiculous wall meme. This is not about security, it is about white supremacy. What is white supremacy, racists pure and simple.
OK, I’ll open: the deliberate disenfranchising from voting by people of color – especially African Americans and Native Americans — is a racist policy perpetuated by the GOP.
Howz this for racism- all the major networks are donating free airtime to Drumpf tonight, a courtesy they did not extend to the Black guy’s 2014 immigration speech.
Mueller still gonna get’m, he and Pence both. The noose, she tightens no matter how much blather they churn. Putin’s bankers are sweating borcht right now, probably Wilbur Ross as well.
“The U.S. Supreme Court refused to shield a mystery company from having to provide information in what is believed to be the criminal investigation being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Acting on a sealed request from the company and making no comment, the justices Tuesday declined to block a federal appeals court ruling that apparently favored Mueller. The appeals court upheld daily fines against the company, owned by an unidentified foreign country, for failing to comply with a grand jury subpoena.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-08/supreme-court-rejects-mystery-company-in-apparent-mueller-clash
Moar Drumpf winning- https://thehill.com/policy/finance/424391-deficit-spikes-41-percent-in-first-quarter-of-fiscal-year
Up Up Up they only go up from here, Up Up Up Up.
Howz this for lawyerly competence- Manafort’s lawyers improperly redacted tidbits in a court filing so that they =were actually revealed to the public.
Manafort apparently was sharing polling data with a Russian operative in the five months he worked for Drumpf’s campaign.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18174094/manafort-filing-mueller
Where do they get these lawyers?
Where are the pesos? There are no pesos. Where are the pesos to build that wall. True Americans will ask themselves tonight and tomorrow, where are the pesos to build the wall trump promised? Why are we being forced into paying for the Mexican Wall that trump said the pesos would be pouring in for. There are no pesos.
Let’s all call Number 2 guy and his sidekick and ol’ Dirty Johnson hisownself to find out where the hell are the pesos. Here is Number 2’s office in Washington (202) 224-2321, Here is Senor Rounds office in Washington (202) 224-5842 and here is
pequeña pelirroja (little red head) (202) 225-2801 Give them a call and ask where the pesos are.
Wall – Schmall The USA West wants out. This week CA agreed with Puerto Rican leaders to help their country during disasters. USA has abandoned it’s obligations and Western USA is picking up the slack.
https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/2496841002
What joke and a fraud. Still no pesos, damn man, where are the pesos buttercup?
Nancy Pelosi just made a masterful move in the shut down discussion. She has suggested that The President not deliver the “State of the Union” because the shut down has created security concerns.
Finally the shut down hits home for President Trump: he may be denied the spotlight.
I also saw recent polling that President Trump’s base is still holding strong on wanting a wall, but HE is loosing support. The issue he took to save his base is not even saving HIM from his base.
O, I read about that too. The president cannot speak until the Congress invites her or him. I remember disgusting Lyin Ryan and Chinless Wonder McTurtle playing around with that against Obama just to express their personal racism and contempt of US democratic traditions.
I wonder if Imbecilic Orangutan will attempt to call a press conference or give a speech outside of Congress then? If so, I really hope news outlets will have the courage to not broadcast it live.
Loss of attention is the worst thing for him. He is not even in Pelosi’s league. Bwahahahahaha!!
Media that cvover anything Drumpf, the pathological liar says, need to preface every video with disclaimers noting nothing Drumpf says, has said or will say has any basis in fact/reality.
Debbo,
Where did you read that the President can’t give a speech from the House floor owned by Americans?
mike from iowa
MSNBC and CNN have both stated that they may start putting Trump on a delayed tape in the likely event Trump starts lying.
Speaker of the House Pelosi invited Trump to deliver the STOU in the House chamber, since she invited him I can see no reason why she can’t rescind the invitation.
Thanks, Roger. Keep up the good fight. Both houses must invite the Potus to speak. Pelosi sets the schedule and can change it whenever she wants to schedule a vote.
Maybe Pelosi could schedule the SOU at the same of Fox and Friends?
He should hold it at AT&T Stadium.
. . . same time as Fox and Friends. Good grief, I stepped on my own punch line.
Jason, really? You think any person can walk into any room of any public building anytime they want? Why don’t you take a mulligan on that one; you got out WAY too far ahead of yourself on that one.
The President of the US can o.
Do you disagree?
No, the president of the United States can’t.
Please link to the statute saying he can’t Roger?
Do your own research, Jason, I did.
In the years before TV and radio the state of the union was often delivered in writing, Trump can do likewise since the Constitution doesn’t say precisely how the speech must be delivered.
Trump writing the state of the union in writing would be a hoot, since he can’t spell and his grammar is that of a four year old.
Jason,
Do you own research, I do.
The Constitution does not require the STOU to be televised or broadcast on radio, it can be written out and delivered to congress, how do you believe it was delivered prior to modern communications?
It would be a real hoot for Trump to write out the speech given his poor spelling and grammatical skills.
I never said it had to be televised.
There is your lack of reading comprehension again.
Do you really want to discuss what happened to Obama when he didn’t have a teleprompter or he went off script?
Give up Jason. Much better minds have mopped the floor with you.
Roger, delayed tape for the Liar-in-Chief? Hooray! That’s responsible journalism.
When they do air the tape I’d like to see a split screen with the fact checking given an entire half of the screen. They can stop the tape so people have time to read the facts, or even listen to an earlier speech where he says something he just claimed to never have said.
That’s how a free press fights propaganda. Of course outlets like Faux Noise are nothing less than full on propaganda 24/7.
Obama’s teleprompter? That was nearly a decade ago. Besides, when Trump gets off the his teleprompter he messes things up
It was during all of Obama’s Presidency.
“For the first time in history, the six biggest Wall Street banks — JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — made $100 billion in profit in a year. “They have Republican tax cuts to thank,” wrote Bloomberg. [Bloomberg]”
Oddly enough, that’s not the “trickle down” that fed employees or most any other citizens are feeling.
Mangled Mango getting pulped!
From NPR– https://goo.gl/dvwycY
Bwahahahahaha!! 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
376 a few days ago and 400 today tunneled under the existing wall. Yep, those walls really work, they need to build them much higher. Maybe we should have an immigration policy instead of a wall.
The pathological liar in the kremlin annex swore he had ZERO business dealings with Russia and now admits his Drumpf tower talks went on until the day Russia won the election for him.
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/01/president-admits-trump-tower-moscow-deal-going-day-announced-day-won-report/
forget impeaschment. Execution may be too good for him.
GENERAL STRIKE is being called. “Association of Flight Attendants president Sara Nelson is calling for a general strike of airline workers to shut down the industry until the government reopens.” http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/01/worker-activism-end-government-shutdown
This could get very interesting in all places but South Dakota. Can you imagine a general strike in Hooterville? Farmers and ranchers refusing to go to the mailbox to see if the BRIBE check has arrived for $.28. IRS workers are already not showing up either to send out everyone’s $4,000.00 that NOem, Thune and Rounds promised.
Cory should change this headline to read Putin Shutdown has personal and public impact. It is clear now that this is the work of our supposed adversary, Russia. This is not Starve the Beast, this is feed the Beast called Putin.
What has McCTurtle been up to during the wingnut shutdown? Nothing except lining up dozens of young right wing idealogue judges-90% white, 80% male for lifetime appointments to America’s courts to ensure minority whites control the government forever.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/01/mcconnell-shutdown-judge-confirmations-trump.html
If this doesn’t scare you then either you are too stoopid to be afraid or you agree with it.
Some interesting numbers in Russiagate we can have fun with- Roger Stone is the 35th indictment in one probe by one Robert Mueller.
Wingnuts, otoh, had 35 years and countless probes to try to get one indictable crime against one HRC and failed miserably.