Are We Going To Have A Shutdown?
By Thom Hartmann A...
The more things change - the more they stay the same.
Just under 100 days into the Trump era, our government is once again lurching towards shutdown, and it's all because Donald Trump wants American taxpayers - not Mexico - to pay for his precious border wall.
With a bill to keep the government open due Friday night at midnight - White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is refusing to rule out the possibility of a government shutdown.
"The President has made very clear that he's got two priorities in this continuing resolution -- number one, the increase in funding for the military; and number two, for our homeland border security and the wall. But I'm not going to start to get into -- we are having a negotiation with House and Senate leadership, and to prejudge where it ends up at this point would be -- would not be prudent."
One - if not the biggest - reason the government could shut down is that Trump wants the spending bill to include funding for a border wall with Mexico, and has not said whether he would sign a spending bill that doesn't include it. So are we going to have a shutdown? And if we do, how does that not hurt Trump?
Comments
#2
Then again, he could change his mind again. Not like it has not happen before.
#3
He'll blame whatever happens on the Dems.
#4
Thom, off topic a little...is there an opening for meaningful tax reform that may benefit manufacturing workers? What if marginal tax rates are increased, mainly for the upper brackets, but at the same time, we make goods manufactured in the U.S. tax deductible? It would have to be non-food items, maybe mostly durable goods? It would incentivize the wealthy to spend their fortunes rather than bank it, and it would subsequently boost good manufacturing jobs here in the U.S. Goods could be ranked for what percentage of the product was made in the U.S., and that amount would be deductible. Thoughts??
#5
The increase in military spending is just as asinine and wasteful as the wall! Why doesn't Schumer demand Trump back down on that insanity too?
#6
More obfuscation by Trump and Company! The 1375 lb gorilla in the room remains his collusion with Putin et. al. during the 2016 election. First it was the big Trumpcare fiasco. Then it was his incineration of some poor farmer's field 500 yards from the Syrian airstrip in response to a chemical weapons attack after he gave both Russia and Syria enough advance warning of the strike to allow them to remove all equipment and personnel to safe locations (does anyone seriously believe this was anything other than theatrics?). And now we have a looming government shutdown and "THE WALL". Come on, folks. Think about it. This SOB is a Grand Master at slight of hand, but others, Namely Uncle Mitch, are far more intelligent and cunning. My personal belief is that he will be charged with complicity in the Russian meddling and impeached. Then, the "real" GOP candidate, Mike Pence, will step in and "appear" to be a rational alternative to the hip shooting, orance Shit Gibbon, and we will be on a fast track to the far right Republican agenda. The sad thing is that we (the great unwashed) just keep chugging that Fox, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC and yes, PBS Kool Aid. I'm sickened by the stupidity of the American people.
#7
I apologize that I'm changing the topic to: INVALIDATING THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. When the day comes that Trump & Trump & Co. are proven to have colluded with the Russians during the campaign, the verdict would be "Treason". Therefore, in consequence, a new president & administration - all Trump nominations/confirmations, appointments, signed bills, Executive Orders would be as invalid as the treasonous President who set this all in motion.
As opposed to impeachment, which has no chance in Congress, treason is a crime,ends the entire Trump administration. Saves our democracy.
#8
Complicity is collusion & collusion is treason - from Cornell Univ. Law School:
18 U.S. Code § 2381 - Treason
Current through Pub. L. 114-38. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)
Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 807; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(2)(J), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2148.)
I'm not a lawyer or constitutional scholar...I like doing a bit of research reading &/or listening to independent non-corporate media. MSNBC - Rachel Maddow: magnificent!
#9
Suenos88: I'm obviously not a lawyer or a constitutional scholar either, but doesn't impeachment focus on the principal (Trump)? And can't it potentially result in the removal of the man from his position (and not necessarily the entire administration)? And IF there is a grand plan to give this individual just enough rope to hang himself, and then continue forward with the rest of the structure in tact (including our most recently istalled SCOTUS Justice) wouldn't that be the cat's meow? When Trump's approval rating hits 18 percent, nobody will be sorry to see him go, and I doubt that there will be riots protesting the installment of Pence in the Oval Office on some fine point of law. Especially in an era when our political elites feel quite comfy in writing their own rules.
#10
dtodd560 #4:
Sure sounds like a good idea, anything to produce more jobs at home ...that is, in a sane country not run by psychopaths! Trouble is, akin to patients taking over the asylum, the Republican Party -- headed by a megalomaniac with a tin-pot dictator complex -- now controls all three branches of government. Good ideas will die a quick death!
An even bigger trouble for everyday workers and taxpayers is that Republicans' most influential donors are tax-dodging, profit-at-all-cost, economic globalists, who could care less about the plight of lazy American workers whining about pathetic little jobs that don't pay enough to buy enough shiny little objects.
In fact, the more that workers suffer financially, the more the fabulously wealthy owners of transnational mega-monopolies thrive. Low wages, no regulations, and cheap imports are the key -- as long as the wage slaves still have enough credit to keep taking on more debt and to keep buying shiploads of over-priced, poorly-made trinkets and baubles.
When the working poor (that's most of us) have nothing left to give, let the sun bleach their worthless bones. Why would cold, calculating predators give a damn about useless prey drained of blood and stripped of flesh? The quicker unproductive consumers of precious resources die off, the better for everyone still standing -- healthcare, Republican style! Besides, "there's a sucker born every minute" to replenish the stock.
#11
@#2
Isn't Thom one who believes that politicans are always evolving. I think I remember a time or two when he praised Hillary Clinton for changing her positions as fast as a sailor in a cat house.
#12
The government shut down will be the least of our worries if what I heard two economists talking about the other night online happens. They were saying that the Deep State (comprised of 40 billionaires, the City of London, the Vatican, the Rothchilds, and the global banking community,) has indulged in so much speculative investing and failed (Glass Steagall) that it is rapidly catching up with them and so to hide their nefarious and iniquitous behavior, plus cause chaos to frighten people into giving up their civil liberties and all other protections while accepting what they seek to install: a fascist totalitarian security state which they alone will run. They were also saying that all of these incidences, to include a governmental shut down, is part of a series of false-flag operations to lay the ground work and foundation for the banking collapse so people will be so exhausted and frazzled by the time of the banking collapse, that we won't have the strength to oppose their take-over. We are truly in the hands of mad men and if we had a lick of sense, we would put these people on notice that if anything bad happens, we are going to spend our energy flushing them out and execute them on the spot. This should allow them to think about their own self-preservation instead of spending all of their time trying to figure out how they can best deprive us of ours. Truly evil men.
#13
#Outback: I was listenting to a Libertarian activist last night and he was saying that there are several things Trump could do to completely stymie the Deep State. He listed several actions Trump could take by May or June 1, 2017, that would completely redefine the playing field and put the Deep State in check if not check mate. He also said, if Trump did not do these things, then this would signal that Trump has been (for whatever reason: bought off, intimidated, given false information,) turned and is now working for the Deep State and the he and his activist friends would start approaching other parties (Greens, Socialists, etc.,) to join with them to overturn the Deep State. In any event, he delineated this year, 2017, as the year of the people's revolt before these monsters can get any further on down the road with their dastardly plans for us.
#14
#dtodd560: (1) There won't be any need to worry about "meaningful tax reform" if they collapse the whole banking system to hide the fact they have been cooking the books for the past 30 years, and (2) The rich are converting to gold and getting out of paper because they know the petro-dollar has seen better days.
They aren't going to spend their money for our sake, In fact, they are intentionally going to crash the global banking system to frighten us into accepting their New World Order which is fascism on steroids. They even have plans to put collars on us with tracking devices and if we don't do their will, they will kill our money source, also located in this device, by shutting down our digital money accounts. This is no joke; they aren't kidding. They want us as their galley slaves or they want us dead; these are their only two options for us, and while we sleep, they are hard at work every day on this plan of theirs. (I heard this from a retired CIA operative.)
#15
Tom: I heard that just before the 9/11 Twin Towers were hit, the bank that resided in the basement was emptied out of 100M in cash, 100M in Bearer Bonds, 100M in gold, and 100M in loose diamonds. Also, that the Bank of Switzerland and the Bank of England are also emptying out their coffers and sending it to some unnamed location. (Another tidbit from the retired CIA operative.) They certainly are up to something big.
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SInce this blog was written Trump has backed down over the wall, but the question still stands.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/25/us-government-shutdown-t...