Patterico's Pontifications

12/21/2018

President Trump And The Looming Shutdown

Filed under: General — Dana @ 2:30 pm



[guest post by Dana]

It looks like lawmakers are at an impasse with regard to funding the Wall and preventing a shutdown of the government:

President Trump and Congress were locked in an impasse Friday over Trump’s border wall, hours away from a partial government shutdown and with no apparent path to prevent one.

Trump’s preferred solution — a stop-gap spending bill containing $5.7 billion for a Mexico border wall — faced near-certain defeat in the Senate, even after the president pressured Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to change Senate rules to allow it to pass.

McConnell refused.

“We’re going to be working very hard to get something passed in the Senate,” Trump said Friday in the Oval Office before a bill-signing. “Now it’s up to the Democrats as to whether or not we have a shutdown tonight. I hope we don’t but we’ve very much prepared for a long shutdown.”

And in spite of the the president’s call for McConnell to use the nuclear option, there just aren’t the necessary votes:

“The Leader has said for years that the votes are not there in the Conference to use the nuclear option,” said McConnell spokesman David Popp. “Just this morning, several Senators put out statements confirming that there is not a majority in the conference to go down that road.”

For more than a year, Trump has tried to pressure McConnell to change Senate rules in a way that would allow the chamber to pass legislation with a simple majority.

During the Obama administration, when Democrats controlled the Senate, Democrats changed the rules to allow most presidential nominees to advance with a simple majority of votes. During the beginning of the Trump administration, McConnell extended this practice to the nomination of Supreme Court justices, which proved crucial because both of Trump’s nominees to the nation’s highest court won approval by a narrow margin.

But McConnell has resisted such a change for legislation, as have a number of other Republicans, worried about the precedent it would set.

Last week, I posted about President Trump’s meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the Oval Office, wherein the president claimed that he would assume responsibility for any shutdown that might happen. Moreover, he said he would be proud to shut the government down and that he would assume blame for it.

“If we don’t get what we want, one way or the other, whether it’s through you, or the military, or through anything you want to call it, I will shut down the government… I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. …So I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.”

It was a bold statement, and one he made without hesitation.

But as with most things said by this president, his brave claim should have been taken with a grain of salt. Because history has demonstrated that he will eventually contradict himself. Whether shooting from the hip, or talking to hear himself talk, or playing a game of one-upmanship, he will eventually contradict himself. Obviously this makes it hard to know what to believe. And that’s a big problem. While some of us might call these inconsistencies “flip-flopping” or being dishonest, his base defends these contradictions as clever political strategeries too complex for the hoi polloi to grasp. (Note: when Obama did the same thing, people on the right were quick to accuse him of being a dishonest flip-flopper and talking out of both sides of his mouth. And people were right in their accusations. That it’s Trump doing it makes no different. Or at least is shouldn’t, anyway.)

Predictably, Trump said the opposite of what he said two weeks ago. If the shutdown happens at midnight, instead of assuming the mantle of responsibility and not blaming the Democrats, he will totally blame them:

Untitled

Interesting note concerning the signature plank of Trump’s campaign platform and what his requested $5 billion would cover: “Department of Homeland Security officials told reporters Friday that the $5 billion in funds would cover roughly 215 miles of new wall construction in California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. In some cases, they would need private land owners to sell property to the federal government for the wall’s construction. If the property owner refuses, the government would consider seizing the property under eminent domain, a controversial tactic that would likely tie the project up in court for years.”

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

123 Responses to “President Trump And The Looming Shutdown”

  1. Read the full report about the impasse at the link above.

    Dana (023079)

  2. Where’s mg? mg! mg! Ryan gave Trump the $5.7 billion. It’s the flakes (hint) in the Senate who won’t give McConnell 50 votes (Pence would be the 51st) to break the filibuster.

    nk (dbc370)

  3. I don’t know how federal eminent domain works, but in Illinois we have “Quick Take”. The land is taken, the project proceeds as scheduled, and what is tied up in the courts for years is how much the land owner gets. Is there federal Quick Take, anybody know?

    nk (dbc370)

  4. President Snowflake is making the ultimate sacrifice by forgoing his golfing vacation in Florida.

    I imagine that will eventually lead him to re-evaluate his position, even if nothing else will.

    Dave (1bb933)

  5. That’s strange. My Trumpdar must be down. Usually I like him only when he’s 1,000 miles away from the White House.

    nk (dbc370)

  6. A president truly committed to making America great again would already be in Mexico City, holding round-the-clock negotiations to secure the funding as promised.

    Dave (1bb933)

  7. meanwhile dread pirate Roberts, doesn’t disappoint in serving the bureaucracies interests,

    narciso (d1f714)

  8. Ill call the wall The Paul Ryan Memorial Wall

    mg (8cbc69)

  9. If Ryan had a pair the wall would have been built from Cantafordya to Texas by now.

    mg (8cbc69)

  10. Whats a few more years of crimaleins roosting on private land.

    mg (8cbc69)

  11. there’s no such thing as government shutdown it’s just a hoax like climate change

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  12. no ryan cares about certain things, just not the ones we are, mcconnell has been a little more successful on appointments, but as to legislation, there just isn’t urgency,

    narciso (d1f714)

  13. his corrupt sleazy wife’s been just sitting on her corrupt ass at transportation running up her piggy pension

    she’s a pretty nasty piece of work that one

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  14. “No matter what happens today in the Senate, Republican House Members should be very proud of themselves. They flew back to Washington from all parts of the World in order to vote for Border Security and the Wall. Not one Democrat voted yes, and we won big. I am very proud of you!” [President Trump] tweeted.

    So there! (You know who you are.)

    nk (dbc370)

  15. If the property owner refuses, the government would consider seizing the property under eminent domain, a controversial tactic that would likely tie the project up in court for years.”

    you can just do the fence on either side and let the dirty violent head lice people funnel through these properties

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  16. December 21, 1968: “Shutdown!” – Frank Borman, Commander, Apollo 8, post trans-lunar injection burn report.
    December 21, 2018: “Shutdown!” – Donald Trump, President, shutters U.S. gov’t, making America ‘grate’ again.

    “That other America. They did things differently there.” – Dan Rather, CBS News, July, 1989.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  17. nk (dbc370) — 12/21/2018 @ 3:58 pm

    “… and thanks to my idiocy, incompetence and toxicity, this will be the last time we win (‘big’ or otherwise) in the House of Representatives for a long, long time.”

    Dave (1bb933)

  18. Where’s mg? mg! mg! Ryan gave Trump the $5.7 billion. It’s the flakes (hint) in the Senate who won’t give McConnell 50 votes (Pence would be the 51st) to break the filibuster.

    That’s not how CR acts work, you must have 60, 51 buys you nothing, and Mitch will not execute the nuclear option, as that also doesn’t have the votes. That would only get 45 or 46, and the House budget would probably get even less.

    Remember, the Senate passed a CR through Feb. 100-0, which Trump said, 2 days ago, he’d support. Of course, that is a week after he said he’d take responsibility for a shutdown, but like all things Trump, if there is a brave way or a coward’s, he chooses the coward’s way, then tries to tell everyone that wasn’t. So he’s going to get the shutdown, but blame someone else.

    Jeez, why can’t he own his sh!t, just a hint of a tiny backbone every once in a while would be nice. He’s the weakest President in history. Not just of the US, the local cub scouts, PTA, whatever.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (5a928a)

  19. I don’t know how federal eminent domain works, but in Illinois we have “Quick Take”.

    In WA State, they call it adverse possession, where they’ll just take the property and work out the just compensation in its own time. I haven’t worked on federal takes since the 1990s.

    Paul Montagu (e20d45)

  20. Acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney’s views have, uh, evolved since 2015. Back then the wall was “absurd” and “simplistic and almost childish”.

    Paul Montagu (e20d45)

  21. why you have to be like that on christmas

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  22. Back then the wall was “absurd” and “simplistic and almost childish”.

    Spoiler alert: It still is.

    Spanky apparently just discovered that Mulvaney called him “a terrible human being” back in 2016, too.

    Preibus’ record as the shortest serving Chief-of-Staff in history looks to be in grave danger…

    Dave (1bb933)

  23. That guy always looked sketchy, like a Fred Armisen with more eighths white.

    urbanleftbehind (e20a20)

  24. Corker says he crafted a compromise, yes I dont trust him more than I can throw him, he would have been an alliance agent in season 3

    Narciso (d1f714)

  25. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/12/21/politics/supreme-court-upholds-block-on-trumps-asylum-ban/index.html

    SCOTUS upholds the 9th Circuit.
    CNN implies Trump’s tweets were a factor.

    Kishnevi (eb30e0)

  26. Well it is one of those procedural things but CNN is gravely stupid

    Narciso (d1f714)

  27. Judge Robert learned how to wipe his ass with the constitution at Harvard you know

    cost him a pretty penny too

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  28. s

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  29. That was Larry tribes specialty, it’s not surprising Obama was his star student, lol.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  30. Happyfeet, knock it off.

    Dana (023079)

  31. The moron should have read the constitution.

    mg (8cbc69)

  32. i seriously have no idea what you mean pls to explain

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  33. Why only every defamation can be directed at trump, I think the chief justice is fair game, hes no one’s favorite here.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  34. especially at Christmas

    i love President Trump so much and I denounce the cowards and the defilers who seek only to defame and to torment (Christmas torment)

    together we can come together to celebrate together and do Christmas real Christmas wonderful Christmas joyful Christmas

    all up in it together

    we can’t never give up on Christmas

    it’s all we have left anymore

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  35. bird box oh dear

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  36. Actually every single Constitutional flaw that afflicted DACA also afflicts Trump’s ukase on asylum.

    Kishnevi (916796)

  37. How exactly there is no law allowing for mass discretion in immigration enforcement,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  38. That’s what happens when you use your immigration laws to give the finger to the Soviet Union. Your chickens come home to roost forty years later.

    nk (dbc370)

  39. i seriously have no idea what you mean pls to explain

    Don’t be a hyperbolic potty-mouth (or even a potty-mouthed hyperbolic) on Dana’s posts.

    nk (dbc370)

  40. ugh but don’t you worry about the chilling effect

    i do

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  41. Dont know what Jackson vanik has to do with it, it was ended with the magnitsky act.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  42. Bear in mind Larry tribe was cited as the best legal mind in the 80s he would tell you that himself, he was the antibork.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  43. Nope. I have hot water radiators and I’m perfectly comfortable with the thermostat at 68. I don’t even need a sweater.

    nk (dbc370)

  44. it feels a lot colder than it is out there

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  45. When they said chilling effect, how come you couldn’t get Tim Robbins to shut up?

    Narciso (d1f714)

  46. We were giving asylum to anybody from an Iron Curtain country who asked. When was Moshe Arens Israel’s ambassador to the United States? He complained, on TV anyway I dunno if officially, that (I’m not kidding) the United States was stealing Israel’s Soviet Jews who should have been going to Israel instead of here.

    nk (dbc370)

  47. They were sneaking into the country, that’s a new one, yes that’s why he didn’t last long as ambassador, and now French and British Jews are making a beeline for israel.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  48. Far more complicated. For some Soviet Jews it was easier to leave the CCCP by saying they were going to the US, and then once in the USA, moving on to Israel. Whereas for others it was the reverse. Blame the combined bureaucarcity of the US and the USSR.

    Kishnevi (916796)

  49. Sensing that it’s a good time to lighten the mood, I give you

    A Very Libertarian Christmas

    Courtesy of Reason; perhaps a bit uneven but brilliant here and there…

    Dave (68a548)

  50. The difference between a totalitarian country where egress is strictly regulated and an authoritarian country where it’s not like ‘hotel California’ at all.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  51. French and British Jews are making a beeline for israel.

    Not really true, especially with the UK.
    France has about 500,000 Jews. The actual rate of those making aliyah to Israel is less than 10,000, meaning less than 2%.

    Kishnevi (916796)

  52. The anti-stalking version of Twelve Days of Christmas. https://www.dezert-rose.com/humor/christmas/12daysreply.html

    nk (dbc370)

  53. A GoFundMe for the Wall?

    I got your Wall, and will raise you Ladders:

    https://www.gofundme.com/ladders-to-get-over-trump039s-wall

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  54. I got your Wall, and will raise you Ladders:

    Been there, done that.

    nk (dbc370)

  55. Trump should not be assigning blame. Assuming he is forthright in his actions, he should be taking credit instead.

    If the single issue behind a government shutdown is protecting our borders, it is unclear which side gets blamed by the voters. I blame Trump for incompetence — this should have been handled a year ago and his inability to get his signature program through Congress when his party controlled both houses is stunningly weak. But now he throws down. OK.

    Question: Are Americans generally on the side of illegal immigrants? The Democrats seem to think so.

    Kevin M (cb624b)

  56. Tillman (61f3c8) — 12/21/2018 @ 8:51 pm

    Dude we need one for the whole freakin’ government!

    Dave (1bb933)

  57. I got your Wall, and will raise you Ladders

    Ah, the “sides with the invasion, gives them money” camp. Be careful of eyewitnesses.

    Kevin M (cb624b)

  58. If the property owner refuses, the government would consider seizing the property under eminent domain, a controversial tactic that would likely tie the project up in court for years.”

    Eminent domain for a national security activity? Pretty sure the only question before the courts is if the payment is high enough and that can be handled after.

    Kevin M (cb624b)

  59. Of course, it would take a competent and/or subordinate DoJ to make the argument.

    Kevin M (cb624b)

  60. Question: Are Americans generally on the side of illegal immigrants?

    One can oppose the wall as the wasteful and grotesque obsession of a criminally insane imbecile without being “on the side of illegal immigrants.”

    Dave (1bb933)

  61. I also have the feeling that DOJ lawyers who have been losing just about every immigration case in the lower courts are too incompetent to be for real. They’ve got to be throwing the cases.

    nk (dbc370)

  62. One can oppose the wall as the wasteful and grotesque obsession of a criminally insane imbecile

    I resent that. I am not criminally insane and the term is “intellectually disabled”, you bigot.

    nk (dbc370)

  63. Hes splitting atoms with his mind, alfred Molina is more subtle,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  64. The possum Congress didn’t want to do anything, Ryan admitted the curbelo bill was designed as a feint, what they want to do they do.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  65. I could have tried buckaroo banzai, what the heck was zemeckis thinking

    Narciso (d1f714)

  66. I wouldn’t mind as much (although I would mind a little) if the rich jerkoffs, both Republican and Democrat, were doing it out of sympathy for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free (and get all other kinds of free stuff too but lets’s not go there now), but I know they’re doing it because they 1) want a cheap labor pool 2) perpetually in the shadows so it will remain cheap. No border control, no rational immigration policy for the legal admission of migrant workers.

    nk (dbc370)

  67. And it’s about votes, electing a new people,

    This wasnt initially what the Europeans wanted they just wanted a labor force.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  68. Dave (1bb933) — 12/21/2018 @ 9:10 pm

    Perfect Dave!

    Tillman (61f3c8)

  69. Good times, good times.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  70. Yes. I am so impressed by the imagery of those who claim stopping an illegal invasion is wrong and a waste of money.

    Reminds me of all those who have completely flipped on their positions because Trump holds the opposite view (that they used to claim to support.) Max Boot is a good example. Billy Kristol is another.

    NJRob (4d595c)

  71. Im sure all these crimaleins would love to stay at your place, Dave. Leave the light on for them and your doors unlocked, ok, amigo.

    mg (8cbc69)

  72. I dunno if we have any attorneys of the ambulance-chasing variety here, but I was wondering: doesn’t the latest conception of the wall slatted-steel barrier as ~30 meter long steel spikes designed to impale human beings create enormous liability exposure for the government (and hence for all of us, its underwriters) as an attractive nuisance?

    Wouldn’t the government need to post, and maintain in good, legible condition, prominent warnings against attempting to climb the wall slatted-steel barrier every 10 or 20 feet on the (inaccessible) Mexican side?

    And since the youths who might unwittingly come to harm by impaling themselves could be illiterate, wouldn’t we need to build an even harder-to-defeat wall slatted-steel barrier to protect them from the first wall slatted-steel barrier?

    Dave (1bb933)

  73. No.
    No.
    No.

    nk (dbc370)

  74. What if I offered you a 33% contingency fee?

    Dave (1bb933)

  75. No.

    nk (dbc370)

  76. Even if, instead of a wall, there was a flaming river of gas?

    Paul Montagu (e41231)

  77. Just leave your doors unlocked, Dave.

    mg (8cbc69)

  78. https://pjmedia.com/trending/miserable-twitter-troll-doxes-everyone-who-donated-to-gofundthewall/

    The left really enjoys their dozing. Trying for another Kristalnacht.

    NJRob (4d595c)

  79. jack dorsey’s twatter is a notoriously anti-semitic platform

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  80. Of course they do, and the trolls on this board, seem to be behave likewise.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  81. Doxxing.

    NJRob (4d595c)

  82. No border control, no rational immigration policy for the legal admission of migrant workers
    As opposed to Trump’s position which is
    fake border control, no rational immigration policy for the legal admission of migrant workers
    You can never get border control without a rational immigration policy.
    Yes. I am so impressed by the imagery of those who claim stopping an illegal invasion is wrong and a waste of money.
    That’s not what Dave and I are saying. What we are saying is that this “invasion” won’t be stopped by Trump’s big beautiful Wall, which is therefore just another big waste of money.

    Kishnevi (3cee37)

  83. 82. A good start for a “rational immigration policy” would be to enforce the law as it’s written. We haven’t done that in my lifetime.

    Gryph (08c844)

  84. walls work real good where they’ve been tried around the whirl

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  85. Trump is just not in a powerful negotiating position. Everyone knows he REALLY wants this wall…or at least a meaningful start on it….and the Left’s base is energized to not give it to him….unless he offers up the holy grail of mass amnesty which Trump can never do. DACA is just too small of a prize especially when the Left feels pretty good about getting the White House and Senate in 2020….so there’s no panic to give Trump something he can claim as a win. As Stephen Miller’s exchange with Wolf Blitzer conveyed, the Left is perfectly fine with running out the clock on immigration reform and doing nothing. There is simply not enough electoral pressure to do otherwise. A government shutdown will just give the media another opportunity to paint Trump as a bully…and it will work.

    AJ_Liberty (165d19)

  86. 85. Trump wants the adulation of his supporters. The wall is itself a means to an end. And as for Trump being painted as a bully? If the shoe fits…

    Gryph (08c844)

  87. A good start for a “rational immigration policy” would be to enforce the law as it’s written. We haven’t done that in my lifetime.

    That would require laws that were actually enforceable. Which we have not had for a long time.

    Kishnevi (3cee37)

  88. And not let’s forget that, while Trump wants more of our money for a wall (while ignoring that a majority of illegal immigrants did not cross the southern border), he just signed a big-spending farm bill that gave even more money to farmers and SNAP. The pigs on both sides of the aisle just got their fill of slop, and now Trump wants even more of our deficit-spent money. I recall there was a time when the GOP was a conservative party, fiscally.

    Paul Montagu (e20d45)

  89. Well they dont want any enforcement, it’s true in the UK as in France or Germany, and they are welcoming back Islamic state fighters, because scorpion

    Narciso (d1f714)

  90. 87. Our laws are enforceable. They’ve been getting more and more lax with every act of congress concerning immigration over the last 50 years. You confuse practical ability with political will. We have plenty of the former, not so much of the latter. And no, I don’t believe Trump’s election has changed that one iota.

    Gryph (08c844)

  91. 88. Fiscally conservative? Not since Silent Cal, Paul. Not since Silent Cal…

    Gryph (08c844)

  92. walls work real good where they’ve been tried around the whirl

    Actually, in history, walls haven’t worked so great. But that said, I say give Trump his wall, provided that his name is indelibly stamped all over it.

    Paul Montagu (e20d45)

  93. Fiscally conservative? Not since Silent Cal, Paul. Not since Silent Cal…

    And for about four years under Newt. And sort of when the GOP stumbled into the sequester.

    Paul Montagu (e20d45)

  94. 93. Newt stemmed the rise in government spending by a small percent, but it still went up. And the only thing remarkable about the sequester was what a s**tfit the media threw over it. It barely rated a blip on the radar in any practical sense.

    Gryph (08c844)

  95. Except they called Woodward when they pointed out that Obama came up with it, and ignored how the lions share of the cuts fell on defense.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  96. Newt stemmed the rise in government spending by a small percent, but it still went up.

    Not disagreeing that he still increased spending, but he slowed the growth spending enough to let our revenues catch up and put us into surplus. I still call that fiscally conservative, and I don’t recall the previous time we had a surplus, the ’50s maybe?

    Paul Montagu (e20d45)

  97. “walls work real good where they’ve been tried”

    If we had rockets regularly launched across our border or American citizens regularly snatched from the border, then the equivalent of an Israeli wall might make sense. The Berlin wall was about keeping people in, not out….so I’m not seeing the urgent case for a 1,000-mile wall versus strategic fences and border patrols. I agree with others….create a sensible guest worker program with some enforceability….and much of the perceived problem lessens. If we get a handle on the economic draw, there’s no need for a wall.

    AJ_Liberty (165d19)

  98. “he slowed the growth spending enough to let our revenues catch up and put us into surplus.”

    Wasn’t much of the real budget gains from the Cold War dividend and a significant draw-down in military spending? Yes, there were some welfare reforms….but no agencies shuttered, nothing significant with social security or medicare, no zero-based budgeting. All of that evaporated with the War on Terrorism. Some sort of safety net for seniors is very popular….it’s not going anywhere.

    AJ_Liberty (165d19)

  99. Where is the incentive to close down agencies, no matter how dismal their performance, static analysis always has to be observed,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  100. # 90 If we don’t have the political will to enforce the law, the we should have the political will to change it. We have neither. That seems the be the definition of decadence, don’t you think?

    Appalled (23799e)

  101. he just signed a big-spending farm bill that gave even more money to farmers and SNAP.

    Yup. Screw the farmers and the disabled and poor. Let’s put the money to a better use. To protect Afghani opium peddlers and Kurdish terrorists.

    nk (dbc370)

  102. um once upon a time it was greek colonels and the tsaldaris who were the beneficiaries of us aid, well more the latter then the former,

    narciso (d1f714)

  103. All of that evaporated with the War on Terrorism.

    There was also a recession, which began a month or so prior to Bush’s inauguration and deepened after the planes hit the buildings. Also, the post-Gingrich Congress saw that big pot of money and goosed up spending.

    Paul Montagu (e20d45)

  104. “I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. … I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.” –Donald Trump, December 11

    “The Democrats now own the shutdown!” –Donald Trump, December 21

    Paul Montagu (b578b6)

  105. meanwhile mazie knows the real enemy:

    https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/22/harris-hirono-knights-of-columbus/

    narciso (d1f714)

  106. That could just be Japanese contempt for things Filipino (I know the latter are deep in K of C out in my neck of the woods).

    urbanleftbehind (335b02)

  107. they like KFC here in the east.

    mg (8cbc69)

  108. *waits eagerly for a Narciso link implicating Colonel Sanders in some nefarious conspiracy*

    Dave (1bb933)

  109. kfc stopped doing grilled chicken and i don’t think popeye’s ever did

    i miss el pollo loco (the crazy chicken)

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  110. chicken rubbed with salt, pepper, cumin, mint, a little habenaro or ahi lemon peppers and lime juice with garlic, lime,salt pepper and butter massaged under the skin cooked on wood coals is a heckuva bird. with a drip pan for collecting all the juicy goodness for gravy to go over your wood smoked mashed potatoes, with roasted broccoli. Enjoy.

    mg (8cbc69)

  111. Except buetschers not Filipino, but Ben Sasse will come to his defense, snorfle.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  112. kfc stopped doing grilled chicken and i don’t think popeye’s ever did

    Unless that’s real recent, it may be a local thing. I remember hearing them ask people if they wanted “Original, Crispy or Grilled?” a month or three ago.

    i miss el pollo loco (the crazy chicken)

    Had lunch there today (in fact I posted from there…).

    Dave (1bb933)

  113. Now, if Congress would just adjourn so that Trump can issue 400 recess appointments and really give them something to cry about.

    Kevin M (cb624b)

  114. As if there are 400 people willing to dive into the dumpster fire at this point…

    Dave (1bb933)

  115. It’s possible but uniquely Puerto Rican dishes I’m not sure of, Adobo and asopao aren’t that.

    Narciso (d1f714)

  116. @97. Actually, the Berlin Wall did keep people out; routinely West Berliners seeking family in the East.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  117. For many years this coconut thought Adobo was one specific spice sold by Goya Foods, but it’s a cooking method that the same eastern hemisphere former Spanish subjects mentioned above lay claim to also. http://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/what-is-adobo

    urbanleftbehind (335b02)

  118. I wanted to know ths difference with my peoples cuisine,

    Narciso (d1f714)

  119. It’s not unique to my people, but it’s good although requires a lot of ingredients
    https://brianfink.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/caldo-gallego-galician-stew/

    Narciso (d1f714)

  120. you’re right kfc still has grilled

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  121. The impasse explained:

    The Democrats are willing to give Trump the money for a “wall” as long as he doesn’t call it a wall, and they can say they never specifically said any money could be used for anything Trump calls a wall. Trump wants credit for a wall, immediately, when he signs the bill. So there is an impasse.

    The Democrats don’t care how much would-be illegal immigrants are hurt or stopped so long as no blame adheres to them. So they only oppose what gets publicity. What they want is to finesse the issue.

    Trump does not he care if his planned construction does anything, and it obviously would take years for anything different to happen because of it. What Trump most wants is no criticism from the “Freedom Caucus” and other members of the immigration restrictionist lobby. They are equally against all immigration, legal and illegal, and in fact more against legal than illegal immigration, and want the numbers to be as low as possible.

    And they are fixated on changes that will outlast Trump. At least when it comes to legislation.

    Trump doesn’t care whether or not would-be illegal immigrants are stopped or harmed so long as he can claim he did something and forced a change in government policy for which he can take credit. Not that he’s thinking this way, but the type of change he is being pushed to is one that will be continued by the next president. (a new president can cut back on border enforcedment but he can’t tear down a wall. Changes in law also are not easily repealed.)

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  122. Here is what I hope is a mostly accurate summary what is affected by the federal government shutdown:

    1. 9 of the 15 federal government departments are affected, but only about 25% of the employees.

    2. It mostly doesn’t matter until Wednesday, December 26. Most federal government offices are closed on Saturdays and sundays and Monday, December 24, and Tuesday December 26, are legal holidays. Almost half of the employees affected will be told to clean out their desks, turn in their cell phones, put up “out of office” notices, and secure property, and will in most cases be given four hours to do that. Congress will not be back until Thursday.

    3. The pay checks scheduled to go out December 28 will go out. The next paychecks are due on January 11. In previous shutdowns Congress has given the expected pay both to federal government employees who worked without pay and those who were furloughed. Not sure if this applies to employees for contractors, like cleaning staff, who didn’t work.

    4. One House of Congress passed a bill saying that when this ends federal employees should be paid immediately and not have to wait for the next regular pay period.

    5. All federal government departments developed contingency plans at least by earlier this year.

    6. The Statue of Liberty and the Grand Canyon will stay open because staff will be paid by the states of New York and Arizona.

    7. The Smithsonian Institution, which also includes the National Zoo, has enough money stockpiled to stay open through January 1.

    8. Some parks will be closed, others unstaffed and people can probably get in and poach in unstaffed and closed parks.

    9. The federal courts have enough money on hand to stay open for several weeks.

    10. Fake Santa tracking will go on because that is being done by the Defense Department which is not part of the shutdown.

    11. Hurricane and other weather predictions will continue to be made, but not social media posts.

    12. No new passports will be issued except in consulates abroad, which have their own multi-year appropriation. Maybe some other emergencies too.

    13. Long term investigations will be put on hold. (like IRS audits, Consumer Product Safety Commission oversight, thinsgd one by many HUD employees.)

    14. All police type functions will go on. (like TSA, FAA, food inspection, prison guards, Bob Mueller, ICE)

    15. Also forest service firefighters.

    16. Applications for new benefits (like for the VA) will be paused.

    17. Current beneficiaries of anything will continue to get care and money as scheduled.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  123. In 2013, Mount Rushmore and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park remaiend open, paid for the states of South Dakota and maybe tennessee (and North Carolina)

    This year Utah is paying for the opening of 3 national parks.

    California is paying for soem cleaning.

    Obama closed parks unnecessarily – now there are people complaining that naybe some parks are too open.

    A road in Colorado through a national park, thought to be open, was closed.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)


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