2023 Republican Government Shutdown: Same Shit, Same Story

[relapse98 634]

(because it has never been about actually securing the border)

[Js1 87,183]

In this case.............it might actually be 4-D chess.

Trump White House is probably hoping and praying for another gruesome Kate Steinle-type murder by an illegal immigrant to justify full and complete roundup of any and all immigrants.  Maybe throw them in some "camps" until we can deport them.  "National security" because "the border" is "not secured" and we are going to be "at war" with "immigrant invaders" committing "atrocities of war" against US citizens.

Edited January 4, 2019 by Js1

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

I miss all the islamaphobia in right wing media from two years ago.  Where did that go? Did the Saudis buy that too?

[atomheartbevo 90,650]

If the shutdown lasts long enough to start affecting tax returns, Mitch will cave like a bitch.  

[Francisco 2.0 32,593]

33 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

I miss all the islamaphobia in right wing media from two years ago.  Where did that go? Did the Saudis buy that too?

One bright shiny object was replaced with another.  

[relapse98 634]

Here is the briefing that DHS secretary Brigitte Nielsen wanted to give at the white house meeting earlier this week.

 

GOPers, what does this mean:

Quote

FUND THE WALL

Fully funding a border wall system will enable DHS to

build primary wall or physical barriers in the areas of

greatest need, adding a proven asset to our ability to

deter and apprehend those entering illegally.

Are there any specifics? I need something more to go than (paraphrasing) I need $5 billion to build the wall.

How is that 5 billion gonna be spent? What exactly are we doing with it?

[Biff Tannen 46,166]

51 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

Here is the briefing that DHS secretary Brigitte Nielsen wanted to give at the white house meeting earlier this week.

 

GOPers, what does this mean:

Are there any specifics? I need something more to go than (paraphrasing) I need $5 billion to build the wall.

How is that 5 billion gonna be spent? What exactly are we doing with it?

So the Rooskies have fully infiltrated?  Does Drago know?

[Brisketexan 106,899]

58 minutes ago, relapse98 said:

Here is the briefing that DHS secretary Brigitte Nielsen wanted to give at the white house meeting earlier this week.

 

GOPers, what does this mean:

Are there any specifics? I need something more to go than (paraphrasing) I need $5 billion to build the wall.

How is that 5 billion gonna be spent? What exactly are we doing with it?

I'm glad someone posted this.

The reason we know that this is about an ego-driven "victory," and not any sound policy, is that the demand has simply been for money for the rhetorical device of "WALL!"

If someone put up a map, and showed "we currently have physical barriers in the areas shown in yellow.  We are currently having difficulty physically securing the areas shown in red, and have assessed and determined that additional physical barriers in those areas will help Border Patrol fulfill its mission.  We are presently seeking only $5 billion to build a physical barrier in the areas shown in red that I am now highlighting."

Make it an actual, tangible project that requires funding, as opposed to a moronic rhetorical device, and you could yank the rug right out from under the Dems.  Because, articulated that way, a good number of us who are opposed to the pointless rhetorical device might actually be in favor of an appropriate for that limited purpose.  Very few people say that physical barriers are entirely pointless -- they have value in certain areas, where they have certain visibility, work in concert with patrol efforts, etc.  What we say is that a generic sea-to-shining-sea WALL! is pointless because (well, all the reasons that have been stated 10,000 times).

Trump and the Trumpkins haven't done that.  Why?  Because it's not about any strategic border security initiative.  It's about a stupid chant and a stupid base and a petulant toddler who has backed himself into a corner.

[The Royal We 3,100]

Nailed it.

[atomheartbevo 90,650]

We’re arguing over the wall and the shutdown instead of Mueller’s investigation and the House flipping  

Thats a win for Trump.  

[retread 2,951]

It's one thing for grandmothers to argue about Facebook memes over their morning coffee, but now we've shut down parts of our govt over a meme. The media and Congress spend most of their time pointing out and refuting the lies/memes that emanate from Cheeto. It's insane.

[lemonlime 5,503]

Swamp monster

[4th&Five 42,005]

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

1 minute ago, 4th&Five said:

 

GOP Senators will crack first. 

[lemonlime 5,503]

1 minute ago, 4th&Five said:

 

Putin is laughing his ass off at us.

[retread 2,951]

The really big talk usually means he's about ready to fold.

[relapse98 634]

20 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

We’re arguing over the wall and the shutdown instead of Mueller’s investigation and the House flipping  

Thats a win for Trump.  

That's exactly why he's pushing the generic WALL! so much.

[relapse98 634]

4 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

 

Do it then, pussy.
When people aren't able to get their interest free loans they make to the government each year (Tax Refund), they will be screaming bloody murder and that's when things will get really fun.  Right now there's a whole lot of "well,it doesn't affect me because blah di blah". But as it affects more and more, buckle in.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23,367]

Just now, lemonlime said:

Putin is laughing his ass off at us.

Everything is going to according to plan.  Install moron...disrupt global markets...get sanctions relief...gain Middle East influence... crash US stock market... shutdown US Government... have moron justify Soviet Afghanistan invasion live on television.

 

[retread 2,951]

It's like Cheeto's intentionally doing everything he can to take America down.

Edited January 4, 2019 by retread

[Biff Tannen 46,166]

1 hour ago, retread said:

The really big talk usually means he's about ready to fold.

Yep.  I expect Pelosi to come out holding his head Kathy Griffin style sometime next week.

[horn4life 3,838]

There is a reason the President was surrounded by powerless zealots at his news conference and McConnell was NOWHERE to be seen.  Indeed he will only talk to reporters in areas where photography is not permitted.

What everyone with a lick of sense (the 33% folks don''t count here) knows that this is ONLY a political move by Trump.  If it was HALF as important as Trump is saying now, he would have shut down the government long ago to solve what he is now teasing as a National Security Emergency.  How sad the GOP and this President in particular will lie to the American people about Terrorism.  Inflating and lying to simply try to scare people.  The GOP really has become a scum of a level we have not seen in government by anyone reading this post.

Edited January 4, 2019 by horn4life

[Js1 87,183]

 

[G650 14,437]

wat.

[Francisco 2.0 32,593]

 

1 hour ago, relapse98 said:

Do it then, pussy.
When people aren't able to get their interest free loans they make to the government each year (Tax Refund), they will be screaming bloody murder and that's when things will get really fun.  Right now there's a whole lot of "well,it doesn't affect me because blah di blah". But as it affects more and more, buckle in.

Wonder how many hard core #MAGA folks get Earned Income Credit each year?  

Wonder how many will be willing to forego that and their refund for the next calendar year to get a wall?

 

Mitch and the boys ain't that tough.

[David Dennison 19,542]

7 minutes ago, G650 said:

wat.

The man is clearly dumber than a bag of hammers.

[atomheartbevo 90,650]

2 hours ago, retread said:

The really big talk usually means he's about ready to fold.

He  confirmed to reporters he’s willing to keep the government shutdown going for months or years.  

But he won’t.   When the MAGAs can’t get their tax refunds, their loyalty will evaporate quickly.   Too many live paycheck-to-paycheck and count on those refunds. 

[Francisco 2.0 32,593]

2 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

He  confirmed to reporters he’s willing to keep the government shutdown going for months or years.  

But he won’t.   When the MAGAs can’t get their tax refunds, their loyalty will evaporate quickly.   Too many live paycheck-to-paycheck and count on those refunds. 

Oh, I believe he will try to.  Because the man has no empathy.  But...but.  Enough Team R senators get tired of hearing the bitching (and poll watching) they will fold, and have enough to override an inevitable veto.

[Js1 87,183]

39 minutes ago, G650 said:

wat.

I can see the commercials now.

"When I stopped getting my paycheck from the government for my TSA job, and I had no health insurance, no safety net to fall back on, boy was I ever thankful that at least a giant wall was built.  Now me and my family in Ohio are safe from MS-13 and ISIS terrorists.  But not from the crippling medical debt I've been left with from my child getting sick and my wife dying from cancer. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta get on down to the soup kitchen for dinner."

Edited January 4, 2019 by Js1

[mdmost 44,046]

This is fine

 

[JimmyJames 12,271]

9 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

He  confirmed to reporters he’s willing to keep the government shutdown going for months or years.  

But he won’t.   When the MAGAs can’t get their tax refunds, their loyalty will evaporate quickly.   Too many live paycheck-to-paycheck and count on those refunds. 

What’s funny is the country club white stock holding republicans who aren’t really all that tuned in and don’t even give a shit about The Wall will dismiss this by thinking it’s just a bunch of browns who get refund checks, so not a threat, when the vast majority who do get refunds will be the white maga morons who love The Wall and will start storming the castle if this actually happens. 

Quite an interesting conundrum for the party of treason/corruption/idiocy. 

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by JimmyJames

[Nivek 17,415]

This is fine
 

We hate government workers so it’s cool. Get a real job. /gop

[Brisketexan 106,899]

 

I wish a muthafucka would.

When we shut down airports because no screeners, nobody gets tax refunds, people have to cancel their national park trips (and/or start to die without any rangers to help in emergencies), etc....trump loses even more support, and the GOP loses more voters forever

Do it, you stupid sonofabitch.

[Francisco 2.0 32,593]

25 minutes ago, mdmost said:

This is fine

 

 

 

Quote

"This problem of call outs is really going to explode over the next week or two when employees miss their first paycheck," a union official at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport told CNN. "TSA officers are telling the union they will find another way to make money. That means calling out to work other jobs."

North Carolina airports, including Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, have experienced 10% higher TSA call outs, according to Mac Johnson, the local union president. "That number will get worse as this drags on."

The call outs are "creating a vulnerability" and screeners are "doing more with less," Johnson said.

Quote

Two of the sources, who are federal officials, described the sick outs as protests of the paycheck delay. One called it the "blue flu," a reference to the blue shirts worn by transportation security officers who screen passengers and baggage at airport security checkpoints.

A union official, however, said that while some employees are upset about the pay, officers have said they are calling in sick for more practical reasons. Single parents can no longer afford child care or they are finding cash-paying jobs outside of government work to pay their rent and other bills, for example.

About a quarter of the government, including TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, have been without funding since December 22. Some 55,000 TSA employees who screen around 800 million passengers a year are considered essential and are among the 420,000 federal workers expected to continue working without pay.

Quote

And TSA is bracing for more call outs next week, according to veteran field officials. That means TSA officials at airports around the country -- cognizant that long security lines frustrate passengers -- could have tough decisions to make, including whether to let passengers board flights with less scrutiny.

The big question is "How are they filling the void?" said one of the veteran TSA officials, voicing concern about the impact on security. "If you're not seeing long wait times at airports, there's something on the security side they're not doing."

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by Francisco 2.0

[Brisketexan 106,899]

I have to fly next Tuesday. I'll tell you whether or not it's a shitshow.

[DigglerontheHoof 21,551]

1 hour ago, mdmost said:

This is fine

 

Starting Monday, and going for two weeks, I'll be in Chicago, NYC, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco....this should be....fun. 

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 947]

7 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I have to fly next Tuesday. I'll tell you whether or not it's a shitshow.

Well, if you keep eating 5 Allsups burritos on the way to turn in your rental car, I’m not sure you can expect anything less.

[NameAlreadyInUse 5,169]

17 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

I have to fly next Tuesday. I'll tell you whether or not it's a shitshow.

I'll be right there with you.  I'll try not to make a scene.  I'll be in Austin, Indy and Phoenix airports next week.  I hope I survive!

[Brisketexan 106,899]

44 minutes ago, Kringelbert Fishtybuns said:

Well, if you keep eating 5 Allsups burritos on the way to turn in your rental car, I’m not sure you can expect anything less.

Alas, I will not be traveling through W. Texas.  I will be in the Metroplex.  And if the meeting runs long, we won't make our return flight and we'll have to drive home.  And you know what that means.....a Whataburger #4 meal.  You gotta take your wins where you can get 'em.

[atomheartbevo 90,650]

Mitch is going to bend the knee, and I think they will have to override the veto within two weeks.  

Too many government employees possibly bailing, too many businesses having travel problems, and way too many Republicans flipping their shit over not getting refunds, etc. 

[Francisco 2.0 32,593]

The shutdown had an unintended effect today.  My bride had enough with my #MAGA MIL.   

In 3 weeks, MIL has not even bothered to ask how this would affect us, our home, our children, etc.  But, she has plenty of time to forward every email, meme, falsehood, etc.  Today was the day that she went too far.  She posted a meme (paraphrasing) on Facebook about how all government employees were non essential, that the government should be shutdown for years, Nancy Pelosi has a wall around her house and is a hypocrite, etc.

Whatever she said (and my wife's retort) was bad enough that MIL either deleted her Facebook account or deactivated it, for I can't see it now.

So, I'm going to break out my bottle of Gentlemen Jack in a bit and just sip for a while.

 

[Ghost of LL 15,698]

7 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

The shutdown had an unintended effect today.  My bride had enough with my #MAGA MIL.   

In 3 weeks, MIL has not even bothered to ask how this would affect us, our home, our children, etc.  But, she has plenty of time to forward every email, meme, falsehood, etc.  Today was the day that she went too far.  She posted a meme (paraphrasing) on Facebook about how all government employees were non essential, that the government should be shutdown for years, Nancy Pelosi has a wall around her house and is a hypocrite, etc.

Whatever she said (and my wife's retort) was bad enough that MIL either deleted her Facebook account or deactivated it, for I can't see it now.

So, I'm going to break out my bottle of Gentlemen Jack in a bit and just sip for a while.

 

Good--they need to be derided and ostracized at every opportunity.

[JimmyJames 12,271]

20 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

The shutdown had an unintended effect today.  My bride had enough with my #MAGA MIL.   

In 3 weeks, MIL has not even bothered to ask how this would affect us, our home, our children, etc.  But, she has plenty of time to forward every email, meme, falsehood, etc.  Today was the day that she went too far.  She posted a meme (paraphrasing) on Facebook about how all government employees were non essential, that the government should be shutdown for years, Nancy Pelosi has a wall around her house and is a hypocrite, etc.

Whatever she said (and my wife's retort) was bad enough that MIL either deleted her Facebook account or deactivated it, for I can't see it now.

So, I'm going to break out my bottle of Gentlemen Jack in a bit and just sip for a while.

 

The olds don’t do facebook and politics well at all. Your MIL should stick to posting pictures of dogs, cats, gardens, grandkids and the like. Then facebook becomes, at least for them, somewhat useful. 

My dad is a major trumpkin but to his credit he deleted his facebook account years ago and never really posted anything. Probably paranoia but still to the betterment of all concerned anyway. 

Edited January 5, 2019 by JimmyJames

[Bama Chick 28,596]

Can’t wait for more of these types of stories to keep pouring in and put McConnell and the other cowardly republicans in the senate in the spotlight.

House Democrats should pass the necessary bill and leave it for the Republican senators like a flaming bag of poop on their porch.

[GSU&UT 1,799]

1 hour ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

The shutdown had an unintended effect today.  My bride had enough with my #MAGA MIL.   

In 3 weeks, MIL has not even bothered to ask how this would affect us, our home, our children, etc.  But, she has plenty of time to forward every email, meme, falsehood, etc.  Today was the day that she went too far.  She posted a meme (paraphrasing) on Facebook about how all government employees were non essential, that the government should be shutdown for years, Nancy Pelosi has a wall around her house and is a hypocrite, etc.

Whatever she said (and my wife's retort) was bad enough that MIL either deleted her Facebook account or deactivated it, for I can't see it now.

So, I'm going to break out my bottle of Gentlemen Jack in a bit and just sip for a while.

 

Apologies if you posted this recently, but what do you and your wife do? Kudos to your wife for that though, it's so emotionally difficult to cut off (even partially) your parents.

[Francisco 2.0 32,593]

10 minutes ago, GSU&UT said:

Apologies if you posted this recently, but what do you and your wife do? Kudos to your wife for that though, it's so emotionally difficult to cut off (even partially) your parents.

PM sent.

[G650 14,437]

So people are literally gonna start getting cars repoed and starving. Awesome work everyone. 

[retread 2,951]

They have as much contempt for American citizens as they do for the children they put in cages and the immigrants that they place in the 'icebox' holding cells.

Edited January 5, 2019 by retread

[Francisco 2.0 32,593]

1 hour ago, JimmyJames said:

The olds don’t do facebook and politics well at all. Your MIL should stick to posting pictures of dogs, cats, gardens, grandkids and the like. Then facebook becomes, at least for them, somewhat useful. 

My dad is a major trumpkin but to his credit he deleted his facebook account years ago and never really posted anything. Probably paranoia but still to the betterment of all concerned anyway. 

Oh, she used to....then early on in the Obama administration, something changed.  She and my FIL went to some local Tea Party meetups in Texas, but they described the people they met as "crazy".  Facebook became more of a political roundtable and less of what you described.  As the Obama years passed, it became more and more politically charged, and with the election of Trump (who she despised in 2016, but she was going to vote for anyway) it's become turbocharged.  

She went from "I don't like him, but I will vote for him" to full bore #MAGA in under 6 months.  She even contemplated getting a Twitter account (she may have, for all I know) but never really said why.  The real reason, we suspected, was so she could get messages from Trump directly.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if my inlaws believed in Q.  

[Mole 4,339]

Honestly, TSA is more theatre than security. They should divert the savings into the National Endowment for the Arts so at least we can get better public art. Two decades of getting yelled at by bad actors and having your shampoo thrown out has lost its aesthetic impact. At first it was a powerful commentary on the dehumanizing process of accepting security over freedom; a satire of the Patriot Act and our fervor post-9/11, if you will. After nearly two decades its time to tell a different story. I’d see where the garbage-filled National Parks takes us artistically. Those are some fertile grounds for biting social commentary. Let’s fill those suckers up with trash. Art demands it.

Canceled flights and longer lines would be a problem, but if they go with “less” security, I wouldn’t be that concerned.