Shutdown, Schmutdown
I have chosen to believe the president.
He said he'd be proud to shut down government, and that he would not blame the Democrats. I heard it (primary source live TV), and I read and saw it (admittedly, secondary sources, but multiple print and media outlets including his own).
Thus, it must be true.
And I argue that, since others are choosing to believe his latest utterances on topic, I'm logically within rights to believe his earlier statements, especially owing to zero change in his demands.
So, now, the author of The Art of the Deal has brought our country to this. We are close to a full month of "shutdown". All-time record. The stuff of legacy. He has made it clear he's not budging. The Senate Majority Leader (Leader; what a bastardization of that term) has stated that he will not bring something to this president which he (the president) will not sign, meaning, anything which does not include $5.7B for a wall, or that-which-might-be-called-something-else besides a wall.
They both are now trying to assert that, since the Democrats have refused this demand, that they, the Democrats, are now responsible for the shutdown.
Hogwash.
Because this is politics and not labor and industrial relations, the rules of optics, not bargaining, are governing. So please, stop pointing and whining. Both sides. This business of "take your speech and shove it" from the Speaker of the House is ridic, as is the juvenile "don't even get on my plane" response.
Back to the main topic:
Why would one jeopardize an entire populace with shutting down:
In the short run, worrying about where money will come from is a major source of angst (I can't believe I even have to consider doing the research to support that claim). In the longer run, for one issue among many, who will pay the interest on the loans paycheck-to-paycheck folks have to take out in order to keep the lights on and the apartment locks unchanged, once the back pay arrives?
People of privilege have no clue as how that works. No clue. Oh wait, trump did claim he knew what it was like to miss a paycheck. And people believe that. (side note, the avaricious paycheck loan industry, to which this administration has given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation...how will they respond, what with no end in sight? Probably deny lending, which curiously is a good thing!)
But, on to the bigger picture.
So, what "services" are still funded by this woefully misguided administration?
Well, for one, lawyers seeking eminent domain acquisition of border property. Mind you, these lawyers are proscribed from other cases: they will be paid just for the ED cases (which has a poetic irony given the person at the top, amiright?).
(side note, this has a deep personal connection for me, as I've ranted earlier here, and often in real life, about this white two-step used to put freeways through Black and poor neighborhoods time and time again)
A: Main https://lansingjournal-mi.newsmemory.com/ee/_nmum/_default_bb_...
The fact of cherry-picking what's shut, and what's not, reveals just how political, and narrow-minded, and yes, mean-spirited, this stupidity we call a shutdown really is.
Need more evidence? From the Jan. 19 edition of USA Today (today):
He said he'd be proud to shut down government, and that he would not blame the Democrats. I heard it (primary source live TV), and I read and saw it (admittedly, secondary sources, but multiple print and media outlets including his own).
Thus, it must be true.
And I argue that, since others are choosing to believe his latest utterances on topic, I'm logically within rights to believe his earlier statements, especially owing to zero change in his demands.
So, now, the author of The Art of the Deal has brought our country to this. We are close to a full month of "shutdown". All-time record. The stuff of legacy. He has made it clear he's not budging. The Senate Majority Leader (Leader; what a bastardization of that term) has stated that he will not bring something to this president which he (the president) will not sign, meaning, anything which does not include $5.7B for a wall, or that-which-might-be-called-something-else besides a wall.
They both are now trying to assert that, since the Democrats have refused this demand, that they, the Democrats, are now responsible for the shutdown.
Hogwash.
Because this is politics and not labor and industrial relations, the rules of optics, not bargaining, are governing. So please, stop pointing and whining. Both sides. This business of "take your speech and shove it" from the Speaker of the House is ridic, as is the juvenile "don't even get on my plane" response.
Back to the main topic:
Why would one jeopardize an entire populace with shutting down:
- food inspections
- airport security (which is how all {or, the vast majority of} the bad actors enter our midst)
- "other" border security (Coast Guard, hello)
- over 800,000 with "deferred" pay
- etc. ?
In the short run, worrying about where money will come from is a major source of angst (I can't believe I even have to consider doing the research to support that claim). In the longer run, for one issue among many, who will pay the interest on the loans paycheck-to-paycheck folks have to take out in order to keep the lights on and the apartment locks unchanged, once the back pay arrives?
People of privilege have no clue as how that works. No clue. Oh wait, trump did claim he knew what it was like to miss a paycheck. And people believe that. (side note, the avaricious paycheck loan industry, to which this administration has given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation...how will they respond, what with no end in sight? Probably deny lending, which curiously is a good thing!)
But, on to the bigger picture.
So, what "services" are still funded by this woefully misguided administration?
Well, for one, lawyers seeking eminent domain acquisition of border property. Mind you, these lawyers are proscribed from other cases: they will be paid just for the ED cases (which has a poetic irony given the person at the top, amiright?).
(side note, this has a deep personal connection for me, as I've ranted earlier here, and often in real life, about this white two-step used to put freeways through Black and poor neighborhoods time and time again)
A: Main https://lansingjournal-mi.newsmemory.com/ee/_nmum/_default_bb_...
US presses ahead with border wall in court despite shutdown
Nomaan Merchant
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON – A federal attorney in South Texas said in court this week that during the ongoing partial government shutdown, he only has been allowed to work on cases related to President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.
The Texas Civil Rights Project on Thursday released a transcript of a Tuesday hearing in a case where the U.S. government has sued a local landowner for her property along the U.S.-Mexico border. Many other civil cases have been delayed during the shutdown, which was triggered by Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall.
According to the transcript, U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez noted that government attorneys working on border wall cases have not been furloughed despite the shutdown.
The prosecutor, Eric Paxton Warner, responded, “This is all I’m allowed to work on, Your Honor.”
Warner and a spokeswoman for the local U.S. attorney’s office did not return messages. A spokesman for the Department of Justice said each U.S. attorney had the authority to determine which civil cases should move forward or be delayed, but that civil cases would be delayed “to the extent this can be done without compromising to a significant degree the safety of human life or the protection of property.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said last year that it planned to start building in February. But unlike on other parts of the border, most border land in South Texas is owned privately. That requires the government to seize it through eminent domain, suing private landowners in cases that can take months or years. Some landowners who would be affected have already vowed to fight the government in court.
Efren Olivares, a lawyer for the Texas Civil Rights Project, accused the government of being “fixated” on a border wall at the expense of other matters.
“As someone who is also handling family reunification cases in which government lawyers are telling us they can’t do anything to help us because of the government shutdown, it’s extremely upsetting and frustrating,” he said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON – A federal attorney in South Texas said in court this week that during the ongoing partial government shutdown, he only has been allowed to work on cases related to President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall.
The Texas Civil Rights Project on Thursday released a transcript of a Tuesday hearing in a case where the U.S. government has sued a local landowner for her property along the U.S.-Mexico border. Many other civil cases have been delayed during the shutdown, which was triggered by Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall.
According to the transcript, U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez noted that government attorneys working on border wall cases have not been furloughed despite the shutdown.
The prosecutor, Eric Paxton Warner, responded, “This is all I’m allowed to work on, Your Honor.”
Warner and a spokeswoman for the local U.S. attorney’s office did not return messages. A spokesman for the Department of Justice said each U.S. attorney had the authority to determine which civil cases should move forward or be delayed, but that civil cases would be delayed “to the extent this can be done without compromising to a significant degree the safety of human life or the protection of property.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said last year that it planned to start building in February. But unlike on other parts of the border, most border land in South Texas is owned privately. That requires the government to seize it through eminent domain, suing private landowners in cases that can take months or years. Some landowners who would be affected have already vowed to fight the government in court.
Efren Olivares, a lawyer for the Texas Civil Rights Project, accused the government of being “fixated” on a border wall at the expense of other matters.
“As someone who is also handling family reunification cases in which government lawyers are telling us they can’t do anything to help us because of the government shutdown, it’s extremely upsetting and frustrating,” he said.
1 of 2 1/19/19, 9:59 AM
A: Main https://lansingjournal-mi.newsmemory.com/ee/_nmum/_default_bb_...
Isac Ramos fishes in 2016 on the banks of the Rio Grande in Los Ebanos, Texas, where the U.S.
governement sued a local landowner for her property along the border. Compensation for the land
isn’t settled yet. ERIC GAY/AP
Saturday, 01/19/2019 Pag.A02
Copyright ©2019 LSJ.com All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your agreement to the terms of service and privacy policy (Terms updated August, 2006) 1/19/2019
Saturday, 01/19/2019 Pag.A02
Copyright ©2019 LSJ.com All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your agreement to the terms of service and privacy policy (Terms updated August, 2006) 1/19/2019
2 of 2 1/19/19, 9:59 AM
The fact of cherry-picking what's shut, and what's not, reveals just how political, and narrow-minded, and yes, mean-spirited, this stupidity we call a shutdown really is.
Need more evidence? From the Jan. 19 edition of USA Today (today):
Court: No new offshore drilling work during federal shutdown
A federal judge in South Carolina has turned back the Trump
administration’s attempt to continue preparatory work for offshore
drilling during the government shutdown, issuing a ruling in a federal
lawsuit challenging the overall expansion plans.
U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel halted federal agencies “from
taking action to promulgate permits, otherwise approve, or take any
other official action” for permits to conduct testing needed before
drilling work can begin.
President Donald Trump decided to recall workers at the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management so they could continue to process testing
permits for drilling off the Atlantic coastline.
I can go on, but those on one side of the fence didn't need even these examples, and those on the other will will ignore them. Probably they will argue the costs are minimal, and they will blame the Democrats for the asylum-seeking backlog...
I am on record in fierce opposition to the shutdown, the narcissistic and egotistical blatherings of he-who-once-was the leader of the free world, and the partisan sycophants who are unable or unwilling (or both) to rein in this fool.
postscript... The funding is suspended for the (public) monitoring of the currents in the Straits of Mackinaw during the pissing match. That means a delay in response should there be a rupture. Of course, we have Enbridge's monitoring upon which we can rely... which of course depends on the publicly-funded data stream... fox and henhouse much???
https://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/federal_shutdown_endangers_line_5_oil_pipeline_spill_response?fbclid=IwAR3xy_qyAngjGtY6LzWAYZF-xH3gR1ZWgjvnOXbi1W0rGUHnJkWsgSR2x00
postscript... The funding is suspended for the (public) monitoring of the currents in the Straits of Mackinaw during the pissing match. That means a delay in response should there be a rupture. Of course, we have Enbridge's monitoring upon which we can rely... which of course depends on the publicly-funded data stream... fox and henhouse much???
https://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/federal_shutdown_endangers_line_5_oil_pipeline_spill_response?fbclid=IwAR3xy_qyAngjGtY6LzWAYZF-xH3gR1ZWgjvnOXbi1W0rGUHnJkWsgSR2x00
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