*****Official Government Shutdown Gamethread*****

[boutons_deux]

Repugs bitch slapped AND bitch slapping their own

Chastened Senate Republicans said they hoped the outcome would be a learning experience for lawmakers in the House and Senate who shut down the government in hopes of gutting President Obama’s signature domestic achievement, the Affordable Care Act. Instead of using the twin deadlines of an end to government funding and borrowing authority to address the drivers of the federal deficit, conservatives focused on a law they could never undo as long as Barack Obama is president, several senators said.

“We took some bread crumbs and left an entire meal on the table,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. “This has been a really bad two weeks for the Republican Party.”


Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina, took a swipe at Senators Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, and Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, as well as House members who linked further funding of the government to gutting the health care law, which is funded by its own designated revenues and spending cuts.

“Let’s just say sometimes learning what can’t be accomplished is an important long term thing, and hopefully for some of the members they’ve learned it’s impossible to defund mandatory programs by shutting down the federal government,” Mr. Burr said.

nytimes link above

[Wild Cobra]

"Do Your Own Research"

--WC
LOL... That isn't my point at all...

I want someone here to say how devastating it will be tomorrow, so we can prove them wrong. Put their faith/reputation on the line.

So tell be, what will happen tomorrow if no bill is passed?

Do you have the balls to put that shitty reputation of yours on the line? --- You may as well... you have nothing to lose, and you can only gain credibility...

[Wild Cobra]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/us/congress-budget-debate.html?hp&_r=0

"It’s very, very serious,” Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, warned on Tuesday. “Republicans have to understand we have lost this battle, as I predicted weeks ago, that we would not be able to win because we were demanding something that was not achievable.”
so the tea baggers can fuck up the country again in Jan and Feb, IF the Householes pass the Senate bill.

Do any conservatives care what the RINO McCain says anymore?

[boutons_deux]

LOL... That isn't my point at all...

I want someone here to say how devastating it will be tomorrow, so we can prove them wrong. Put their faith/reputation on the line.

So tell be, what will happen tomorrow if no bill is passed?

Do you have the balls to but the shitty reputation of yours on the line? You may as well... you have nothing to lose, and you can only gain credibility...

OK I'll spoonfeed you

the debt ceiling is squishy, Treasury has cash on hand to pay stuff, and revenue comes in but jerkily, as does demand for payments.

Treasury can play "extraordinary measures" to prioritize payments, but the asshole bloody-minded anarchist House tea baggers EXPLICITLY want to block that ability.

USA doesn't turn into a pumpkin at midnight, but it rots quite quickly and jerkily after that, plus the planetary reputation as the reserve currency and safe haven would be badly tarnished. Also, Treasury's borrowing costs (interest!) go up and can stay up for a long time, iow, INCREASING the debt and interest.

a report in 1989 said the near-default in late '70s cost about $11B in 1980s dollars.

[ElNono]

Credit rating downgrade is likely the first step, which is bad enough because it means paying a biggest interest in future debt. Basically shooting ourselves in the foot thanks to posturing.

IIRC, by the Treasury numbers, the actual huge problem is Nov 1st. If this isn't solved by that time, then no SS, disability, etc checks are coming out.

[Th'Pusher]

So someone remind me.

What harm will come tomorrow if the demonrats continue this shutdown?

No need to worry, it looks like the republicans caved...simpering away with their tail between their legs after being thoroughly defeated by Barry and Ried. We'll see if they pull this shit again in January after such an ass whipping.

[Wild Cobra]

Credit rating downgrade is likely the first step, which is bad enough because it means paying a biggest interest in future debt. Basically shooting ourselves in the foot thanks to posturing.

IIRC, by the Treasury numbers, the actual huge problem is Nov 1st. If this isn't solved by that time, then no SS, disability, etc checks are coming out.
I call bullshit on this.

Link please.

[ElNono]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/15/wall-street-debt-deadline-1-november

[boutons_deux]

I call bullshit on this.

Link please.

those social welfare/safety net checks, and govt payroll, are BIG spikes in the outflow. if Treasury inflow doesn't match outflow, it must borrow, but tea baggers want to block the borrowing, so no checks go out. fucking simple

[The Reckoning]

deal coming to end the shutdown per CNN

http://politicslive.cnn.com/Event/Live_Shutdown_showdown?sr=fb101613liveshutdown1245 p

[boutons_deux]

"The deal that has been cut provides no relief to the millions of Americans" affected negatively by Obamacare, Cruz just told reporters.

link? millions? :lol

at least TEXAS ASSHOLE Cruz won the bullshit (Christian-hater) Values Voter Pres straw poll.

[Th'Pusher]

deal coming to end the shutdown per CNN

http://politicslive.cnn.com/Event/Live_Shutdown_showdown?sr=fb101613liveshutdown1245 p

...and republicans get absolutely jack shit out of this. So what was the point? The best thing that came out of this is Barry absolutely crushed using the debt ceiling extortion tactic in the future.

thanks Ted Cruz!

[The Reckoning]

republicans representing their tea party constituents is all. they're playing politics here.

and it's not something to play with. the next round of chicken may be worse. i say we vote every incumbent out of office the next round of elections.

[EVAY]

republicans representing their tea party constituents is all. they're playing politics here.

and it's not something to play with. the next round of chicken may be worse. i say we vote every incumbent out of office the next round of elections.

I'm in.

[boutons_deux]

WH and Dem Congress beat the fuck out of the Repugs, where the Repugs thought the Dems would cave. Obama folded on the sequester and debt limit and dubya tax cuts two years ago, and decided that was too much. no more.

[boutons_deux]

Jon Stewart is always there

https://www.upworthy.com/see-this-daily-show-reporter-loses-his-cool-when-hes-confronted-with-stupidity-naturally?c=upw9

[boutons_deux]

So someone remind me.

What harm will come tomorrow if the demonrats continue this shutdown?

What are the risks?

The assumption that lawmakers, in effect, may have a little time after Thursday to raise the ceiling before Treasury faces its first real cash crunch could be blown out of the water if the unthinkable (http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/12/news/economy/debt-ceiling/index.html?iid=EL)happens -- a Treasury auction fails.

On Thursday, the Treasury has to roll over $120 billion in outstanding debt (http://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/2013/10/08/bpc%E2%80%99s-x-date-window-narrows-economic-risks-grow). That means it needs to issue new debt to pay off the principal on the old debt coming due. Usually in such auctions the holders of the maturing debt simply "roll over" their investment into the new bonds that Treasury issues.

But if they decide to cash out instead and there aren't enough buyers for the new debt to replace them, Treasury would be on the hook to pay off the old bonds in full. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew likened that to having to pay off one's entire mortgage instead of just having to make a month's mortgage payment.

Another rollover auction to replace $93 billion in outstanding debt will be held a week later,

A failed auction is a worst-case scenario that may never come to pass. But were it to happen, Treasury could start defaulting (http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/15/investing/debt-default-doomsday/index.html?iid=EL) on some of the country's obligations immediately thereafter since its cash and revenue would be tapped out.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/16/news/economy/debt-ceiling-default/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[Th'Pusher]

Stock market appears to be celebrating the republican's disastrous defeat and total retreat.

[boutons_deux]

A Democratic leader said the current plan was for the Senate to provide the legislative language to the House, get a House vote, and then have the Senate take up the bill, pass it, and perhaps send it to Mr. Obama before the end of the day.

But House Republican leaders continued to ponder whether taking up a measure first was in the best interest of their members, even as they acknowledged that it would expedite and end what has been a less-than-pleasurable legislative experience for their party.

It was not clear Wednesday morning whether the leaders would try to meet with their entire conference before going to the floor, or simply move to voting later in the afternoon, perhaps intuiting that a members’ meeting would be both raucous and unproductive.

House Democrats remained confused and angry. On a scale of 1 to 10, “this is a 12,” in terms of ridiculousness, said Jackie Speier, Democrat of California. “This is like a preschool that’s gone awry. I’ve been in public office for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/us/congress-budget-debate.html?hp&_r=0

[boutons_deux]

High Cost to the Economy From the Fiscal Impasse


Stalled pallets of goods idling at ports. Reduced foot traffic at sandwich shops in downtown Washington. Canceled vacations to the Capital and to destinations abroad. Slashed corporate earnings forecasts. Higher interest payments on short-term debt.

Even as the shutdown of the United States government and the threat of a default appear to be coming to an end, the cost of Congress’s gridlock has already run well into the billions, economists estimate. And the total will continue to grow after the shutdown ends and uncertainty persists about whether lawmakers might reach another deadlock next year.

A complete accounting might take months to put together once the government reopens and the Treasury returns to adding to the country’s debt. But economists said that the intransigence of House Republicans would take a bite out of fourth-quarter growth, with knock-on effects for employment, business earnings and borrowing costs. Those effects would be global.

“We saw huge effects during the summer of 2011, with consumer confidence hitting a 31-year low in August and third-quarter G.D.P. growing just 1.4 percent,” said Beth Ann Bovino, the chief United States economist at Standard & Poor’s. “Given that this round of debt ceiling negotiations” is coming during a shutdown, she said, “the impact on the economy could be even more severe.”

The impasse over the debt ceiling has already raised the United States’ short-term borrowing costs, with investors demanding triple the interest payments they demanded just a few weeks ago, in some cases. Concerns about the United States as a borrower might have a much longer and deeper effect than the shutdown, analysts think.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/business/economy/high-cost-to-the-economy-from-the-fiscal-impasse.html?hp

[AntiChrist]

WH and Dem Congress beat the fuck out of the Repugs, where the Repugs thought the Dems would cave.


You really think that's what this was all about?

[ChumpDumper]

You really think that's what this was all about?
What do you think this was all about?

[pgardn]

LOL... That isn't my point at all...

I want someone here to say how devastating it will be tomorrow, so we can prove them wrong. Put their faith/reputation on the line.

So tell be, what will happen tomorrow if no bill is passed?

Do you have the balls to put that shitty reputation of yours on the line? --- You may as well... you have nothing to lose, and you can only gain credibility...

No one knows exactly. Or the next day. Eventually when we run out of money there had been talk about selectively paying back T-bills that come due and SS first.

But what you fail to continue to understand is that just the uncertainty of the most stable haven for money not being able to pay its creditors is not the same as a local bank defaulting. Just the perception of the US not coming through with payments is enough to start a giant snowball effect. So you wish to test exactly what happens first?

Were you alive in 2007-2008? Do you remember what the mere threat of money not being liquid did? Do you like bartering?

Oh, oh, nothing came of it, so no problem. Pull your head out of your ass.

[baseline bum]

Why are people acting like this is done? LOL ever depending on the House to get shit done.

[boutons_deux]

You really think that's what this was all about?

of course. Barry made it very clear.

The Repug/VRWC/UCA objective, now that the Repugs can see demographics will keep them out of the WH for decades, has been to tear down the dubya/dickhead imperial/unitary Exec, so future Repug Congresses could run the country.

Barry refused to cave to their extortion, kicked them in the balls, teeth, head WHILE strengthening the WH. He's done the COUNTRY a huge favor.

You dumb right-wing assholes probably don't realize it, but these are HISTORIC weeks in Constitutional terms.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if the Repugs pulled the same shit in Jan and Feb.

btw, the CR is very near to Ryan's sociopathic level, so the Repugs did win that.

[boutons_deux]

Why are people acting like this is done? LOL ever depending on the House to get shit done.

yep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=65F6lRdUU_c

[The Reckoning]

didn't think boutons would be a pulp fiction fan tbh

[LnGrrrR]

I remember when WildCobra was castigating Obama for saying things that would "upset the confidence " of the market. Good thing a default wouldn't do that.

[boutons_deux]

didn't think boutons would be a pulp fiction fan tbh

seen it many many times. "dead n!gg@ storage"

Vincent: Goddamn, that's a pretty fucking good milkshake!
Mia: Told you.
Vincent: I don't know if it's worth $5, but it's pretty fucking good!

[pgardn]

LOL... That isn't my point at all...

I want someone here to say how devastating it will be tomorrow, so we can prove them wrong. Put their faith/reputation on the line.

So tell be, what will happen tomorrow if no bill is passed?

Do you have the balls to put that shitty reputation of yours on the line? --- You may as well... you have nothing to lose, and you can only gain credibility...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/10/payments1.jpg


Here.

You decide when the world realizes the US is not a safe place for money. 58 billion on Nov.1 and the computers in the Treasury most likely start dropping bad checks.
But you decide when people start pulling their money, the stock market crashes, and the flow of money ceases. And after you figure it out, tell me what the exact temperature on the top of Mt. Everest will be 4 days, 7 hours, 33 min., and 2 seconds from now.

[The Reckoning]

seen it many many times. "dead n!gg@ storage"

Vincent: Goddamn, that's a pretty fucking good milkshake!
Mia: Told you.
Vincent: I don't know if it's worth $5, but it's pretty fucking good!




:lol

reminds me of the $5 milkshake at the alamo drafthouse. i highly recommend it.

[ElNono]

Why are people acting like this is done? LOL ever depending on the House to get shit done.

this

[boobie4three]

Idiots think the shutdown is Bush's fault.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTZT8i5e2Rs#t=185

[LnGrrrR]

^
Wow, you proved stupid people exist! Good job! I will tell the Nobel Prize committee today!

[boobie4three]

^
Wow, you proved stupid people exist! Good job! I will tell the Nobel Prize committee today!

Let's call them what they really are. Stupid 0bama supporters.

[LnGrrrR]

It's a good thing there aren't any stupid Republicans, amirite?

[boobie4three]

It's a good thing there aren't any stupid Republicans, amirite?

Not a one.

[pgardn]

Let's call them what they really are. Stupid 0bama supporters.

So why is it Republicans listen to and believe Rush Limbaugh and Ted Cruz?

Because they are wise?

[ChumpDumper]

Any republican who thought this shutdown might work is an idiot.

[boobie4three]

So why is it Republicans listen to and believe Rush Limbaugh and Ted Cruz?

Because they are wise?

Strapping some of you folks to a chair and forcing you to listen to a week's worth of Limbaugh shows would be the best thing that ever happen to you people. As far as Ted Cruz, in the coming months as more and more Americans are exposed to the stinking pile of dung that is 0bamacare, Cruz will be lauded as a statesman for having stood up in an attempt to strike it down. You heard it here first.

[boobie4three]

Any republican who thought this shutdown might work is an idiot.

It's only halftime twink.

[DMX7]

republicans representing their tea party constituents is all. they're playing politics here.

and it's not something to play with. the next round of chicken may be worse. i say we vote every incumbent out of office the next round of elections.

You would just see the same thing happen all over again. The problems are systemic. Repugs in gerrymandered districts have to act like clowns to fend off primary challangers and the Speaker has to have their support to pass conservative legislation. He could pass bi-partisan legislation that is not radical, but then he would probably lose his Speakership if he just ignored the clownshow and used the support of the moderate conservatives (moderate relative to the Tea Baggers) and democrats only.

[boutons_deux]

From Confederate East Texas

Deep shutdown thoughts from America's Dumbest Congressman (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/15/1247532/-Deep-shutdown-thoughts-from-America-s-Dumbest-Congressman)

http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/32452/large/Gohmert.jpg?1368652256

“The President and Harry Reid should not have shut this government down,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) during an afternoon question and answer session with Congressmen.

“This has been coming for a long time … Democrats were waiting on a shutdown they could blame on Republicans.”A

17-year-old member of the audience from Ohio approached the mic and asked why the shutdown hasn’t come to an end. “

Once the President and Harry Reid see that the American public have seen through their smoke screen, that they are intentionally making americans suffer … you will see the shutdown come to an end overnight,” Gohmert said.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/15/1247532/-Deep-shutdown-thoughts-from-America-s-Dumbest-Congressman?detail=email

[Wild Cobra]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/15/wall-street-debt-deadline-1-november

Useless for my question/statement. I'll bet you don't even know why.

[Wild Cobra]

those social welfare/safety net checks, and govt payroll, are BIG spikes in the outflow. if Treasury inflow doesn't match outflow, it must borrow, but tea baggers want to block the borrowing, so no checks go out. fucking simple

True, but the SS and SS disability are technically off budget, and are constantly receiving more money than paying out. This is one fund the government borrows against to pay for other programs.

[Wild Cobra]

What are the risks?

The assumption that lawmakers, in effect, may have a little time after Thursday to raise the ceiling before Treasury faces its first real cash crunch could be blown out of the water if the unthinkable (http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/12/news/economy/debt-ceiling/index.html?iid=EL)happens -- a Treasury auction fails.

On Thursday, the Treasury has to roll over $120 billion in outstanding debt (http://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/2013/10/08/bpc%E2%80%99s-x-date-window-narrows-economic-risks-grow). That means it needs to issue new debt to pay off the principal on the old debt coming due. Usually in such auctions the holders of the maturing debt simply "roll over" their investment into the new bonds that Treasury issues.

But if they decide to cash out instead and there aren't enough buyers for the new debt to replace them, Treasury would be on the hook to pay off the old bonds in full. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew likened that to having to pay off one's entire mortgage instead of just having to make a month's mortgage payment.

Another rollover auction to replace $93 billion in outstanding debt will be held a week later,

A failed auction is a worst-case scenario that may never come to pass. But were it to happen, Treasury could start defaulting (http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/15/investing/debt-default-doomsday/index.html?iid=EL) on some of the country's obligations immediately thereafter since its cash and revenue would be tapped out.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/16/news/economy/debt-ceiling-default/index.html?hpt=hp_t1



Is it your contention that we should be held hostage to such a crippling system?

I say let it happen!

Nothing too harmful will come of it, except for congressmen losing elections in 2014 that want to keep borrowing.

[Wild Cobra]

No one knows exactly. Or the next day. Eventually when we run out of money there had been talk about selectively paying back T-bills that come due and SS first.

We need to run out of money, and SS is flush with it until a few more years.




But what you fail to continue to understand is that just the uncertainty of the most stable haven for money not being able to pay its creditors is not the same as a local bank defaulting. Just the perception of the US not coming through with payments is enough to start a giant snowball effect. So you wish to test exactly what happens first?

Good.

Our stupid congressmen and president need to realize that interest rates fluctuate. maybe you wish to lay dead like roadkill, but i am not willing to lay down for these traitors in congress. They are spending away my children's money, and this must end!




Were you alive in 2007-2008? Do you remember what the mere threat of money not being liquid did? Do you like bartering?

I didn't see ant problems related to it at all at all until after the bailout.




Oh, oh, nothing came of it, so no problem. Pull your head out of your ass.

No, you are putting your hear in your ass. Hoping this will go a few more years until finding a solution. maybe you are hoping you will die before an impending economic disaster.

we need to address this now. Not later. the longer we wait, the worse it will be.

[boutons_deux]

"crippling system"

you mean financial buy/sell contracts? :lol

Your squirrels got more clue than you.

The debt is a result of Repug tax cuts, giveways, wars, unfunded shit, NOT runaway spending.

[Wild Cobra]

I remember when WildCobra was castigating Obama for saying things that would "upset the confidence " of the market. Good thing a default wouldn't do that.
How would rising bond prices upset the market?

[Wild Cobra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/10/payments1.jpg


Here.

You decide when the world realizes the US is not a safe place for money. 58 billion on Nov.1 and the computers in the Treasury most likely start dropping bad checks.
But you decide when people start pulling their money, the stock market crashes, and the flow of money ceases. And after you figure it out, tell me what the exact temperature on the top of Mt. Everest will be 4 days, 7 hours, 33 min., and 2 seconds from now.
You must be a prized liberal lemming, repeating their propaganda.

Again, SS is a separate fund, and constantly has money coming in from employers.

[Wild Cobra]

^
Wow, you proved stupid people exist! Good job! I will tell the Nobel Prize committee today!

LOL...

Just proves cherry picking in the media works...

[boutons_deux]

I remember when the tea baggers were LYING that the hated IRS would get access to everybody's health records. Now the tea baggers are FORCING the IRS deeper into ACA operations. :lol

[boutons_deux]

At 11th Hour, G.O.P. Blinks in Standoff

Speaker John A. Boehner, the leader of conservative House Republicans whose push to strip money for the health law led to the shuttering of much of the government on Oct. 1, said that the House would not block a bipartisan agreement reached in the Senate that yielded virtually no concessions to the Republicans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/us/congress-budget-debate.html?hp

:lol

curb stomped the tea baggers.

Kock Bros dropped $200M on a 3-year project to kill ACA.

[boutons_deux]

High Cost to the Economy From the Fiscal Impasse

Stalled pallets of goods idling at ports. Reduced foot traffic at sandwich shops in downtown Washington. Canceled vacations to national parks and to destinations abroad. Slashed corporate earnings forecasts. Higher interest payments on short-term debt.
Even as the shutdown of the United States government and the threat of a default appear to be coming to an end, the cost of Congress’s gridlock has already run well into the billions, economists estimate. And the total will continue to grow after the shutdown ends and uncertainty persists about whether lawmakers might reach another deadlock next year.

A complete accounting might take months to put together once the government reopens and the Treasury returns to adding to the country’s debt. But economists said that the intransigence of House Republicans would take a bite out of fourth-quarter growth, with knock-on effects for employment, business earnings and borrowing costs. Those effects would be global.


“We saw huge effects during the summer of 2011, with consumer confidence hitting a 31-year low in August and third-quarter G.D.P. growing just 1.4 percent,” said Beth Ann Bovino, the chief United States economist at Standard & Poor’s. “Given that this round of debt ceiling negotiations” is coming during a shutdown, she said, “the impact on the economy could be even more severe.”

The two-week shutdown has trimmed about 0.3 percentage points from fourth-quarter growth, the forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, based in St. Louis, has estimated. Standard & Poor’s, the New York ratings agency, estimates that the shutdown will cut about 0.3 percent off inflation-adjusted G.D.P. for each week the shutdown drags on. Most analysts are predicting that growth will remain subpar, probably running at an annual pace of around 2 percent.

“The reputational damage is done,” said Markus Schomer, chief economist at PineBridge Investments in New York. “Regardless of whether we get a deal, there will be efforts to diversify away from the United States in terms of assets.”

Moreover, this latest budget impasse comes after years of similar episodes, and the economic ramifications have accumulated over time, analysts say. A new Macroeconomic Advisers report (http://pgpf.org/special-reports/the-cost-of-crisis-driven-fiscal-policy), prepared for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, estimates the costs of the fiscal uncertainty of the last few years. Its model suggested that since late 2009, that uncertainty has increased certain corporate borrowing costs by 0.38 percentage point, lowered economic growth by 0.3 percentage point a year and raised this year’s unemployment rate by 0.6 percentage point. That translates into 900,000 lost jobs.

“We are baffled by the idea that the pace of deficit reduction needs to be increased, given how rapidly the picture is improving already,”

“Then we can come back some time in December, January and February and do this all over again,”

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/business/economy/high-cost-to-the-economy-from-the-fiscal-impasse.html?from=homepage

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Useless for my question/statement. I'll bet you don't even know why.

Well seeing that he said that in response to you calling him for bullshit, I imagine he won't understand why it doesn't answer your 'question.

[boutons_deux]

South Dakota Ranchers Face Storm’s Toll, but U.S.’ Helping Hands Are Tied


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/10/15/us/20131016_DAKOTA-slide-6FA6/20131016_DAKOTA-slide-6FA6-articleLarge.jpg

The cattle lay in heaps of tangled hooves, collapsed against fences and submerged in creeks. Some had curled up behind hay bales, hiding from 70 mile-per-hour winds that scattered herds for miles, struck by hypothermia weeks before they were scheduled to go to market.

In one of the worst blizzards to hit western South Dakota, ferocious winds and snow as deep as five feet killed tens of thousands of livestock and damaged the area’s economy. More than a week later, many of the cows remain unburied.
“At this point in time, it’s important to step over the dead ones and take care of the living,” said Gary Cammack, a state representative and rancher who lost 120 cows and calves, about a fourth of his herd.
Delayed by more inclement weather and ground too soggy for tractors, Mr. Cammack, like many ranchers in this farming community just east of the Black Hills, hopes to begin the gruesome work of cleaning up the carcasses this week. But while state and county agencies have helped clear roadsides and have provided burial pits, the federal government shutdown has only complicated the crisis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/us/as-south-dakota-ranchers-face-storms-toll-us-helping-hands-are-tied.html?hp&_r=0

[boutons_deux]

The Government Shutdown Has Cost The Economy $24 Billion (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/16/2794391/shutdown-cost-24-billion/)

Standard & Poor’s calculates that the shutdown that has so far lasted just over two weeks has taken $24 billion out of the economy (http://www.businessinsider.com/sp-cuts-us-growth-view-2013-10), shaving at least 0.6 percent off of GDP in the fourth quarter.

The agency had originally predicted a 3 percent growth rate in GDP this quarter, noting that “we thought politicians would have learned from 2011 and taken steps to avoid things like a government shutdown and the possibility of a sovereign default.” But now recognizing that “our forecast didn’t hold,” it has reduced that estimate to 2 percent.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/16/2794391/shutdown-cost-24-billion/

[ElNono]

Useless for my question/statement. I'll bet you don't even know why.

You didn't state anything. You asked for a link explaining why there wouldn't be checks and you got it.

[ElNono]

True, but the SS and SS disability are technically off budget, and are constantly receiving more money than paying out. This is one fund the government borrows against to pay for other programs.

That assumes that paying out SS has priority over paying, say, debt interest. link?

[DMX7]

Healthcare will be the death of us all.

[Wild Cobra]

That assumes that paying out SS has priority over paying, say, debt interest. link?
I give up.

You don't understand.

SS is a different / off budget function. They cannot decide not to pay it.

[Wild Cobra]

At 11th Hour, G.O.P. Blinks in Standoff

Speaker John A. Boehner, the leader of conservative House Republicans whose push to strip money for the health law led to the shuttering of much of the government on Oct. 1, said that the House would not block a bipartisan agreement reached in the Senate that yielded virtually no concessions to the Republicans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/us/congress-budget-debate.html?hp

:lol

curb stomped the tea baggers.

Kock Bros dropped $200M on a 3-year project to kill ACA.





“The fight will continue. But blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us.”

Is he speaking for all 435 voting house members, or just the leadership?

Wouldn't it be funny of the house still voted no?

[Michael Jordan.]

:lol WC desperate

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I give up.

You don't understand.

SS is a different / off budget function. They cannot decide not to pay it.

Well, I am going to chime in and say that ElNono over the years has demonstrated much more savvy on fiscal matters then you ever have. Seeing that you have no credibility and fail to even attempt to explain yourself, it appears you are fronting about things you do not understand which you have again and again been shown to do.

All he asked for was a link corroborating your assertion. I get you don't give a damn about your credibility but damn...

[ChumpDumper]

It's only halftime twink.Since you have been terribly wrong so far, what is your prediction for the "second half."

[ChumpDumper]

Is he speaking for all 435 voting house members, or just the leadership?

Wouldn't it be funny of the house still voted no?It would be funny to see those who voted no fucked over by the leadership after that.

[ElNono]

SS is a different / off budget function. They cannot decide not to pay it.

I do understand. This isn't a budgetary issue. It's a cashflow issue. It's correlated to the debt-ceiling not the shutdown.

If the Treasury has $30b on hand but has to pay out $120b, it has to borrow the other $90b. If it doesn't have the authority to borrow, it has to prioritize paying one thing or the other.

Not complicated at all.

[boobie4three]

Since you have been terribly wrong so far, what is your prediction for the "second half."

In the coming months Boehner will grow a pair, or buy a pair from balls-R-us. Either way, he'll play hardball finally. The majority of the Senate Republicans will be beaten about the head and shoulders by their constituents back home and will also be ready to play hard ball. 0bama will be taking a severe beating over the failure of 0bamacare and will capitulate and agree to a 1 year delay. The sequester will remain in place and we may even be able to extract some more reductions in entitlement spending. Anyway, that's what I predict and I'm sure you will agree.

[Th'Pusher]

In the coming months Boehner will grow a pair, or buy a pair from balls-R-us. Either way, he'll play hardball finally. The majority of the Senate Republicans will be beaten about the head and shoulders by their constituents back home and will also be ready to play hard ball. 0bama will be taking a severe beating over the failure of 0bamacare and will capitulate and agree to a 1 year delay. The sequester will remain in place and we may even be able to extract some more reductions in entitlement spending. Anyway, that's what I predict and I'm sure you will agree.

How many times do you have to be absolutely wrong before you start questioning the biased news sources you consume that just tell you what you want to hear? How about maybe a little introspection? Does it bother you at all that you don't live in reality and that you're willingly duped?

[boobie4three]

How many times do you have to be absolutely wrong before you start questioning the biased news sources you consume that just tell you what you want to hear? How about maybe a little introspection? Does it bother you at all that you don't live in reality and that you're willingly duped?

Believe it or not, this all came from my fertile brain. No outside influence. Nobody else is saying this. I'm on a island.

[ChumpDumper]

In the coming months Boehner will grow a pair, or buy a pair from balls-R-us. Either way, he'll play hardball finally. The majority of the Senate Republicans will be beaten about the head and shoulders by their constituents back home and will also be ready to play hard ball. 0bama will be taking a severe beating over the failure of 0bamacare and will capitulate and agree to a 1 year delay. The sequester will remain in place and we may even be able to extract some more reductions in entitlement spending. Anyway, that's what I predict and I'm sure you will agree.Play hardball how?

Threaten to shutdown the government again?

[boobie4three]

Play hardball how?

Threaten to shutdown the government again?

Who knows? My prediction is based on wishful thinking. So what do you predict?

[ChumpDumper]

Who knows? My prediction is based on wishful thinking. So what do you predict?I predict more tone deaf posturing from the Republicans. The Democrats won't really do anything because they don't have to.

[boobie4three]

I predict more tone deaf posturing from the Republicans. The Democrats won't really do anything because they don't have to.

We'll see. We could be in for a Happy Holiday Season,.....depending on your point of view.

[pgardn]

You must be a prized liberal lemming, repeating their propaganda.

Again, SS is a separate fund, and constantly has money coming in from employers.

It does not matter that it is a separate fund you crackhead, there will not be enough money. Less money coming in than due. Nov.1 it's all paid/ through the treasury system computers. The only separate computer system is sovereign debt.

Read
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/10/04/absolutely-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-debt-ceiling


This is actually a short version for people who enjoy suicide. You. If you can tell me what is inaccurate in the explanation above please do.

[pgardn]

[QUOTE=Wild Cobra;6882342]We need to run out of money, and SS is flush with it until a few more years.

So what will people spend their SS checks on when no one will accept them?



Good.

Our stupid congressmen and president need to realize that interest rates fluctuate. maybe you wish to lay dead like roadkill, but i am not willing to lay down for these traitors in congress. They are spending away my children's money, and this must end!

So you wish to punish your children immediately.


I didn't see ant problems related to it at all at all until after the bailout.

Exactly, the government intervened, where were you? Do you remember not being able to make a purchase with cash?



No, you are putting your hear in your ass. Hoping this will go a few more years until finding a solution. maybe you are hoping you will die before an impending economic disaster.

Oh, so blow the whole thing up and start over as a 3rd world country, nice. Can your kids dig?

we need to address this now. Not later. the longer we wait, the worse it will be.

There won't be an economy to address later. You will create a brand new set of problems IN ADDITION to those you already worry about.
[\QUOTE]

And I have a kid. I don't want nuts like yourself playing Russian Roulette with her head. Use yours.

[hitmanyr2k]

Anyone remember that moment when Rand Paul was dumb enough to think they could win this fight? :lol

4gXIgAAN3o4

[Jacob1983]

Gas prices gonna go up. Thanks Obama.

[Winehole23]

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/thanks-to-the-shutdown-republicans-are-losing-ground-in-numerous-senate-races/

[boutons_deux]

and with 35 pages of pork (which is mostly job-creating ECONOMIC STIMULUS! like $2B+ for dams in McConnell's KY)

[The Reckoning]

http://gawker.com/house-stenographer-dragged-off-floor-yelling-about-free-1446830813?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

http://nation.time.com/2013/10/17/house-stenographer-disrupts-vote-gets-hauled-away/ (http://nation.time.com/2013/10/17/house-stenographer-disrupts-vote-gets-hauled-away/)

stenographer loses it and starts clamouring about God and the free masons.

[LnGrrrR]

How would rising bond prices upset the market?

You think that America basically admitting that we can't pay all our debts wouldn't affect the stock market? What about the two drops we have seen during the shutdowns?

Also, I am not sure how think "words" can cause market instability, but defaulting wouldn't.

[LnGrrrR]

Also, if you want to fight spending, I am down for that. But don't be a pussy and try to shutdown the government. Reduce spending in the budget. That's what determines inlays/outlays.

[boutons_deux]

"fight spending"

spending, and fed govt employees, are descending rapidly

the problem with spending, deficit, debt is, has been for decades, CUTS IN TAXES

[LnGrrrR]

boutons, I agree, unfortunately there's no way taxes occur without spending cuts. I think we could reduce the military some, as well as eliminate a few loopholes (like tax free churches... After all, according to conservatives, people will give to churches out of charity to support them...)

[boutons_deux]

there's no way taxes occur without spending cuts

you mean technically or politically? there's no technical/financial reason tax hikes are impossible. Politically, the Repugs have sworn allegiance to Norquist and sworn ALWAYS to cut taxes indefinitely on the wealthy and corporations.

[Winehole23]

a contrarian take from The Nation:


Because the deal only includes minor concessions, the Beltway consensus is that it represents a resounding defeat for Republicans, who “surrendered” their original demands to defund or delay Obamacare. In the skirmish of opinion polls, that may be true, for now. But in the war of ideas, the Senate deal is but a stalemate, one made almost entirely on conservative terms. The GOP now goes into budget talks with sequestration as the new baseline, primed to demand longer-term cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. And they still hold the gun of a US default to the nation’s head in the next debt ceiling showdown.

Surrender? Any more “victories” like this and Democrats will end up paying tribute into the GOP’s coffers.

This debate started in 2011 when the president accepted that he couldn’t get support for jobs programs and instead called for “balanced” deficit reduction that included tax increases on corporations and the wealthy and spending cuts. In response, Republicans threatened to default on America’s debts, forcing through the Budget Control Act, which cut nearly $1 trillion in spending over ten years with no tax increases and exacted another trillion in cuts either by agreement of a “supercommittee” or, failing that, automatic across-the-board cuts of $1.2 trillion over ten years. Now the Republicans’ “surrender” locks in that sequester while pushing for further reductions to basic safety net programs—all while tax increases remain off the table and the threat of default is still pointed at the country’s head. Tea Party zealots may have lost their bid to torpedo healthcare reform, but the right continues to set the terms of the debate.http://www.thenation.com/article/176694/even-when-gop-loses-it-wins#

[Wild Cobra]

---

[boutons_deux]

Republicans never demanded Obamacare repeal, says Republican who demanded 'getting rid of Obamacare' (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/16/1247870/-Republicans-never-demanded-Obamacare-repeal-says-Republican-who-demanded-getting-rid-of-Obamacare)


Let the rewriting of history begin!

http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2560270664/0t56mtxc58fljrrs4d2c_normal.jpeg (https://twitter.com/mpoindc/status/390505453202845696)Rep. Labrador says it's "absolutely false" that GOP sought Obamacare repeal. " We have never asked for a full repeal of Obamacare..."
— @mpoindc (http://twitter.com/mpoindc)

And:
http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2738902089/07ec9c3352520ee523b4039860abd6ef_normal.jpeg (https://twitter.com/mikememoli/status/390505592974225408)Labrador says any reporters saying GOP wanted full Obamacare repeal were "lying to the American people."
— @mikememoli (http://twitter.com/mikememoli)

And just in case you doubt the technical accuracy of Labrador's words, check out this press release (http://labrador.house.gov/press-releases/labrador-cosponsors-bill-to-stop-government-shutdown-delay-obamacare/) on his website:

Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID) announced today that he is a cosponsor of a resolution introduced by Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA) to fund the government for Fiscal Year 2014 while fully delaying and defunding ObamaCare until 2015. The Graves resolution – which has 59 cosponsors – would prevent a government shutdown from taking place after September 30, 2013, when current funding for the government expires."If there’s any single issue that can unite House Republicans and has the strong support of the American people, it’s getting rid of ObamaCare," said Rep. Labrador.


So if you said Labrador and his fellow Republicans were demanding Obamacare repeal in this government shutdown, you're totally lying, because they weren't demanding Obamacare repeal, they were merely demanding the Obamacare be defunded until 2015 because they were united in support of "getting rid of Obamacare."

And, as everybody knows, there's an enormous difference between "repealing Obamacare" and "getting rid of Obamacare." So if you're one of the lying liars who is accusing Republicans of trying to use the government shutdown and threat of default as leverage to repeal Obamacare, you need to start telling the truth: They were simply trying to get rid of it.

9:30 AM PT (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/16/1247870/-Republicans-never-demanded-Obamacare-repeal-says-Republican-who-demanded-getting-rid-of-Obamacare#20131016093026): Or, as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put it:

http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2560268160/gsewe73y4b12tp7ykmx6_normal.jpeg (https://twitter.com/mmurraypolitics/status/390513775385645056)McConnell on HC law: "Republicans remained determined to repeal this terrible law." But adds for today, Senate GOP wants to reopen gvt

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/16/1247870/-Republicans-never-demanded-Obamacare-repeal-says-Republican-who-demanded-getting-rid-of-Obamacare?detail=email

:lol

[SA210]

https://scontent-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/q71/1381511_207736686072796_1746068947_n.jpg

[boutons_deux]

Ted Cruz Isn’t Ruling Out Another Shutdown to Fight Obamacare


http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/600x39997-300x199.jpg (http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/600x39997.jpg)
Despite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s vow that another government shutdown won’t be an option (http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/329145-leader-mcconnell-no-more-shutdowns-over-obamacare) to try to derail President Barack Obama’s health care law, Cruz and his supporters are saying not so fast.


A senior Republican aide told TheBlaze that the Texas senator is keeping all options on the table — including the possibility of another shutdown — to stop the Affordable Healthcare Act.

“Yes, he is keeping all options on the table,” the aide told TheBlaze. “That said, he never wanted a shutdown. He fully supported, advocated and encouraged Congress to fund vital government services through the shutdown in order to focus completely on Obamacare.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/17/ted-cruz-isnt-ruling-out-another-shutdown-to-fight-obamacare/

I say: "Cruzaders, Bring It On!" More shutdowns will shut down the Repug party and tea baggers electorally.

[Winehole23]

Erick Erickson is eager (http://www.redstate.com/2013/10/16/advancing-ever-advancing/) for more primary challenges against Senate Republicans:


Two Republicans in the Senate caused this fight that their colleagues would have surrendered on more quickly but for them. Imagine a Senate filled with more.


The fixation on punishing the Senate Republicans that “surrendered” is revealing. It shows that Erickson still doesn’t grasp that lack of control of the Senate doomed any effort to force significant concessions from the administration, and it shows how oblivious he remains to the greater political dangers that the GOP just escaped. Having a larger number of uncompromising Republicans in the Senate probably wouldn’t have prevented yesterday’s deal, since nearly two-thirds of the Senate GOP voted for it anyway. That’s a lot of “charlatans” to defeat. Nonetheless, if a deal had been prevented thanks to Senate Republican opposition, Republicans would just as surely have “owned” the consequences of breaching the debt ceiling as they “owned” the shutdown. Those consequences would have been significantly worse for the country, and Republicans would have to start worrying about a net loss of seats in the Senate and the House. In case Erickson missed it, this would be the opposite of advancing. In other words, he wants to punish the Republicans that averted even greater disaster for the party than the failed strategy he urged them to follow.


As things stand now, diverting energy and resources into additional primary challenges isn’t going to make it more likely that Republicans will control the Senate in 2015 and could potentially cost the party a seat here or there it shouldn’t have lost. That all but guarantees that the party will be in the same place two years from now that it is today. Once again, Erickson is urging conservatives to do things that won’t actually advance their cause, and might end up hurting it. Perhaps conservatives should reassess who it is that has been conning and fleecing them.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/failing-ever-failing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=failing-ever-failing

[Winehole23]

The Tea Party is composed largely of Republicans who supported George W. Bush when he was the GOP standard-bearer, voting for him twice and criticizing him far less frequently than they defended him, only to rebel against his record at the end of his second term. At that point, partisan loyalty and shared hatred of liberals finally gave way to the realization that the GOP's time in power was a disaster for conservatives...

...Many in the Tea Party seem to have conflated compromising one's principles, a bad thing, with negotiating to reach agreements that make both sides better off. The latter kind of compromise is the only way American government can function when power is divided. There is no logical reason that it should be regarded by conservatives as a dirty word—the Bush years weren't bad for conservatives because of negotiated deals that gave both sides some of what they wanted.


Pretending that compromise is what went wrong during the Bush years helps conservatives evade responsibility for supporting an agenda many parts of which they find indefensible in hindsight. It permits them to blame Democrats and establishment Republicans for events they themselves only rebelled against after the fact, and to delude themselves into thinking that everything will get better if only they vehemently insist on getting their way, sans compromise, all of the time.


Who wouldn't want to believe that's all success takes? It's a pretty lie that talk-radio hosts find it easy to tell over and over again, despite contrary evidence, because conservatives want to believe that it's true. Reality is much harder to face. In order to mount a comeback and wield influence in American politics, conservatives need to face their own flaws, negotiate savvy compromises with President Obama and Democrats, build credibility and momentum with small gains in the short term, persuade people of their ideas and governing vision in the medium term, and implement their agenda by winning elections rather than brinkmanship. But hard truths don't attract a large enough audience to sustain a radio show.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/conservatives-misunderstand-what-went-wrong-under-bush/280659/

[boutons_deux]

Shutdown Will Continue To Damage Economy Through The Holiday Season, Economists Predict (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/20/2807021/shutdown-economic-damage/)

economists are warning that Republicans’ crisis-to-crisis brinkmanship (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/09/20/2649481/timeline/) over the past few years is causing lasting damage to the economy.

The shutdown deal, which funds the government through January 15 and postpones the debt ceiling until February 7, all but mandates another down-to-the-wire budget battle,

the inability of businesses and consumers to plan for more than a couple months at a time is “corrosive” to the economy.

“To move the economy forward, we need a strong consumer. If a consumer can’t rely on his or her job…they aren’t going to spend. It’s going to be a pretty weak holiday season.”

“I had expected the economy to pick up pace by the end of the year going into the next but now I think that’s very unlikely,” Zandi told Schieffer. “I think we’re stuck in this very slow growth, lackluster kind of environment.”

Sequestration, which will be re-negotiated in the budget talks over the next couple months, has also had lasting damage on the economic recovery. Mass furloughs that kicked in earlier this year have slowed consumer spending (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/08/30/2557211/consumer-spending-furloughs/), particularly on home sales and durable goods.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/20/2807021/shutdown-economic-damage/

[boutons_deux]

Cruz’s willingness to threaten another crisis is insanity to many leaders of the Republican Party. The shutdown took the bulletproof vest of their House majority and has already made 15 seats more likely to swing to the Democrats, according to the venerable Cook Political Report (http://www.nationalmemo.com/5-reasons-democrats-now-have-a-much-better-chance-of-taking-back-the-house-in-2014/).

But you know the truth: While the shutdown was an obvious disaster for the Republican Party, it was a bonanza for Cruz and his wealthy anti-goverment allies (http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/20/ted-cruz-figurehead-kochdemint-destroy-government-conspiracy.html).

It was a bonanza when it comes to fundraising (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/10/17/ted-cruz-is-listening-to-the-people-with-cash/) and making him the leader of the far right of the Republican Party. Why would he give up now, with the 2016 GOP primary getting closer every day? Do you think Ted Cruz is worried about hurting the Republican Party’s “brand?”

“There’s an old saying that, ‘Politics, it ain’t beanbag.’” the junior senator from Texas told ABC News’ Jon Karl (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/ted-cruz-friends-senate-20601574) in an interview that aired Sunday. “And, you know, I’m not serving in office because I desperately needed 99 new friends in the U.S. Senate.”

http://www.nationalmemo.com/ted-cruzs-reality-show-cloaks-the-real-damage-the-gop-has-done/

[boutons_deux]

The government shutdown cost the US 120,000 jobs
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Donald-Marron/2013/1024/The-government-shutdown-cost-the-US-120-000-jobs

[LnGrrrR]

I meant politically Boutons.

[Winehole23]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/12/10/whatever_s_in_this_ryan_murray_budget_deal_conserv atives_are_against_it.html

[Winehole23]

http://www.redstate.com/2013/12/10/the-big-spenders-return/

[boutons_deux]

Government Shutdown a Multibillion Bonanza for Wall Street

The October 2013 “shutdown” of the US government, and the financial climax associated with the deadline for a possible “debt default” by the federal government, was profitable for Wall Street. As Michael Chossudovsky reports, powerful corporate lobby groups acting directly or indirectly on behalf of Wall Street influenced the key actors in the US Congress involved in the shutdown debate. Major interests on Wall Street were not only in a position to influence Congress; they also had inside information regarding the government shutdown impasse. As a result, Chossudovsky writes, Wall Street was “slated to make billions of dollars in windfall profits in speculative activities which are “secure” assuming that they are in a position to exert their influence on relevant policy outcomes.”

The manipulation of markets is carried out on the orders of major bank executives including the CEOs of JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas. The “too big to fail banks” are portrayed, in the words of JP Morgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon’s, as the “victims” of the debt default crisis, when in fact they are the architects of economic chaos as well as the unspoken recipients of billions of dollars of stolen taxpayers’ money. “These corrupt mega banks,” Chossudovsky writes, “are responsible for creating the ‘gaping wound’ referred to by Deutsche Bank’s Anshu Jain in relation to the US public debt crisis.”

Four major Wall Street financial institutions account for more than 90 percent of the so-called derivative exposure: J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank America, and Goldman Sachs.

These major banks exert a pervasive influence on the conduct of monetary policy, including the debate within the US Congress on the debt ceiling. They are also among the World’s largest speculators.

http://www.projectcensored.org/government-shutdown-multibillion-bonanza-wall-street/

[Winehole23]

If the Republicans do take the Senate, they won’t have a lot of time to savor the victory, because two years later they’re going to be the ones defending more seats (see Sean Trende’s analysis (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2014/01/23/why_2014_senate_races_mean_so_much_for_2016_121323 .html) for more details). That makes it entirely possible, maybe even likely, that Republicans will have control of both houses for only two years, and after 2016 we’ll go back to the way things are now. So can they legislate during that time?


To a certain degree, the question is moot as long as Obama is president. Anything big and consequential on the Republican agenda would get vetoed. But you can accomplish a lot by thinking relatively small. The question is whether Republicans — or to be more specific, House Republicans — are capable of doing that.


I’ll point you to two articles written in the last couple of days. The first, by Dylan Scott in Talking Points Memo, discusses (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-senate-takeover-obamacare) some of the ways Senate Republicans and the insurance industry are thinking about the possibility of a GOP Senate takeover. There’s a lot of discussion about some of the features of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that might be trimmed back. Could you cut or eliminate a tax on insurance policies? What about restoring cuts to Medicare Advantage? Might you introduce a lower-level “copper” plan to be sold on the exchanges, which would be less comprehensive than the gold, silver and bronze plans?


Now let’s turn to the House. Last night, The Post’s Robert Costa reported (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-republican-leaders-craft-their-vision-for-an-alternative-to-health-care-law/2014/03/16/b98db274-ab7e-11e3-98f6-8e3c562f9996_story.html) that House Republican leaders are coalescing around an alternative to the ACA that would do some of the things Republicans have been advocating for years: repeal the ACA, institute medical malpractice reform, let people buy insurance across state lines and a few other things.


See the difference? The senators accept that the ACA is law and are thinking about how they’d like to change it. The House members are coming up with another way to make a futile, symbolic shaking of their fists in the general direction of the White House. And this may offer a clue to how legislating would proceed in a Republican Congress. The House, still dominated by extremely conservative Republicans for whom any hint of compromise is considered the highest treason, could continue to pass one doomed bill after another, while the Senate tries to write bills that have at least some chance of ever becoming law.




And that would be just fine with Barack Obama. If he’s faced with both houses controlled by the opposition, there’s nothing he’d rather see than them fighting with each other and passing only unrealistic bills that he can veto without worrying about any backlash from the public.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/03/17/why-taking-over-the-senate-may-not-do-republicans-much-good/

[Winehole23]

We should just mint trillion dollar coins. Problem solved.sure, why not?

1442857756927696901

[Winehole23]

We should just mint trillion dollar coins. Problem solved.Y'all could dissolve or incarcerate the US Congress and let Trump have the power of the purse, is that on the table this time? JD Vance's buddy Mencius Moldbug seems to think so.

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tbezmmltvdtjthfeaftfoop6/bafkreidwsdcjadrjgnj333dlqnlx5oqe3nparrolb3iryblyz zjcfmmp34@jpeg

[Winehole23]

Blaming the imminent shutdown (who will blink first?) on the party that controls zero branches of government will be an uphill battle.

[Millennial_Messiah]

Why is it always this time of year? Late Sept into early Oct

[Winehole23]

Why is it always this time of year? Late Sept into early Octdamn you're dumb, son

[Winehole23]

when was the last time a real budget passed instead of a CR?

honest question, can't remember

[Winehole23]

Alternatively, a 2014 Q&A piece (https://www.pgpf.org/analysis/q-and-a-congressional-budget-and-impoundment-control-act-of-1974) from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation claims Congress has passed the budget on time just six times in the past 40 years with the most recent instance being in 2003https://checkyourfact.com/2023/12/08/fact-check-congress-four-budgets-40-years/

[Winehole23]

22 years ago

[Winehole23]

This will be the first time Trump has met with Schumer this year

Trump has not met with Jeffries


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jb2q4yqmgpmefxd4xx66gepm/bafkreigxywedwuw6iafej2nastfjk2xzqnv6t3x5clkp44hnn nasmp3ary@jpeg

[Winehole23]

Trump's condition for a deal is a ban on medical care for trans people

[Winehole23]

shorter Jeffries

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wpdti66qcvzywaum55sucghw/bafkreiffrlp3p5lvsmj7k6r7j2y2c4x6ftepyqzv3hefpifhj kcjfplpzu@jpeg

[Millennial_Messiah]

Trump's condition for a deal is a ban on medical care for trans people
A sex change is a choice, not medical care, if you don't agree you're fucking brainwashed.

That's it and that's all.

[ChumpDumper]

A sex change is a choice, not medical care, if you don't agree you're fucking brainwashed.

That's it and that's all.
Most gender affirming care is a choice regardless of who is getting it. You want to outlaw all elective medicine?

[Millennial_Messiah]

Most gender affirming care is a choice regardless of who is getting it. You want to outlaw all elective medicine?

outlaw no, subsidize no, especially with respect to health insurance & any govt subsidies

[Winehole23]

I guess girls with hirsutism and boys with gynecomastia are screwed in Andyworld if their parents can't afford gender-confirming medical care

[ChumpDumper]

outlaw no, subsidize no, especially with respect to health insurance & any govt subsidies

So reconstructive breast surgery after a cancer-related mastectomy is not covered in your little world?

[Winehole23]

and no jobs report on Friday



Commerce has now also posted its shutdown plan. BEA would completely shut down, and Census would shut down apart from some operations related to the 2030 decennial census. So no retail sales, international trade, PCE, GDP...www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul... (https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2025-09/DOC-Lapse-Plan-2025.pdf)

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/general/plans/dol-contingency-plan.pdf

[Winehole23]

will generals be stranded away from their commands?


if your objective is regime consolidation over the military, then bringing together 800 irritated top officers is the worst possible idea. They wouldn’t normally conspire electronically, but stranding them together during a govt shutdown gives them time to talk & compare notes.

[Millennial_Messiah]

So reconstructive breast surgery after a cancer-related mastectomy is not covered in your little world?

that's an exception, because cancer is actually life threatening, but I do think that one should be price controlled

I guess girls with hirsutism and boys with gynecomastia are screwed in Andyworld if their parents can't afford gender-confirming medical care

neither hirsutism nor man boobs have threatened anyone's life, though admittedly the moobs are a risk factor for male breast cancer, but that's not relevant. Cosmetic stuff not covered. A lady can shave it or go natural and accept her body the way it is.

[ChumpDumper]

that's an exception, because cancer is actually life threateningBut the cancer is already gone at that point.

[Millennial_Messiah]

But the cancer is already gone at that point.

the difference is therein that, theoretically a woman would have boobs, a normal human female body part and part and parcel of being a woman, if not for the cancer, which is generally genetic and not her fault.

whereas hirsutism, which can have all kinds of causes, not just high testosterone but also stuff like PCOS, is purely cosmetic and doesn't necessarily make a woman less feminine, heterosexual, or womanly to have some body hair, in areas like the chest and abdomen which is more commonly associated with "manliness" (I personally shave those areas). Pregnant women for instance get hirsutism all the time and it's normal, caused by hormonal imbalance.

man boobs are gross but they're mainly found in fat males with high estrogen and much more often than not caused by diet and lifestyle habits and choices. Typically not something dieting, laying off the soy and phytoestrogens, working out, and a little testosterone supplement wouldn't cure.

transgenderism is 100% a choice and a very risky one at that and should be safe, legal, rare, and never subsidized or covered by insurance. And one must be 21+ tbh. I'd argue 25 but it'd get too much pushback. Also think voting should be 21+ minimum with exception for military service. As for transgender surgery. Too many teens regret it within a few years or less. Kids especially these days are way too young to be making those kind of life altering decisions so young, especially since today's youth are, at best, half the age of maturity of youth from generations ago. The average 18 year old today has the maturity of a 10 year old from the 1980s-90s, and the average 30 year old today has the maturity level of a high school senior from the breakfast club era, sadly.

[Blake]

Lol "man boob cancer is a choice"

[Winehole23]

Trump's condition for a deal is a ban on medical care for trans peoplethis turned out to be not correct, btw

[ChumpDumper]

the difference is therein that, theoretically a woman would have boobs, a normal human female body part and part and parcel of being a woman, if not for the cancer, which is generally genetic and not her fault.

whereas hirsutism, which can have all kinds of causes, not just high testosterone but also stuff like PCOS, is purely cosmetic and doesn't necessarily make a woman less feminine, heterosexual, or womanly to have some body hair, in areas like the chest and abdomen which is more commonly associated with "manliness" (I personally shave those areas). Pregnant women for instance get hirsutism all the time and it's normal, caused by hormonal imbalance.

man boobs are gross but they're mainly found in fat males with high estrogen and much more often than not caused by diet and lifestyle habits and choices. Typically not something dieting, laying off the soy and phytoestrogens, working out, and a little testosterone supplement wouldn't cure.

transgenderism is 100% a choice and a very risky one at that and should be safe, legal, rare, and never subsidized or covered by insurance. And one must be 21+ tbh. I'd argue 25 but it'd get too much pushback. Also think voting should be 21+ minimum with exception for military service. As for transgender surgery. Too many teens regret it within a few years or less. Kids especially these days are way too young to be making those kind of life altering decisions so young, especially since today's youth are, at best, half the age of maturity of youth from generations ago. The average 18 year old today has the maturity of a 10 year old from the 1980s-90s, and the average 30 year old today has the maturity level of a high school senior from the breakfast club era, sadly.

This makes a lot of assumptions.

[koriwhat]

Trans are mentally insane. Sure, be what you believe yourself to be but stop demanding we fund your bs and or allow you into spaces you couldn't get in if most weren't playing make believe with literal mentally insane people. Fuck yo delusions!

[GAustex]

Democrats care about illegals more than their own citizens

[Spurs Homer]

snowflakes care about other peoples bodies/issues/choices...

but then bend over and fund trillions in social programs for the billionaire class - tax freebies, govt contracts, etc


suckerz!

[koriwhat]

Shut it down and fire all worthless bureaucrats! Fuck Schumer and temu Obama.

[ChumpDumper]

Democrats care about illegals more than their own citizens

Why did you take health care away from your own citizens?

Please explain.

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4u3hwe3p7oy3hoy3amlw7rp2/bafkreia4joe6f6ynpun32yuajt223pwztjpllvyzcy4xjhckg 37v2jdgre@jpeg

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nzcjpprq6fwcdnwpc45e3gsd/bafkreib6ajwzzqhsaaqeutlavadbjd554b726zppuwlobqzmo k7dirkw5u@jpeg

[Millennial_Messiah]

BITCOIN BACK OVER 116K and ALTs way up!!! Lets gooooooooo!!! #ShutdownChuck #KillDreamHakeem #HeilMusk

[Blake]

Why do Republicans hate the national parks?

[Spurs Homer]

"lie to me cult daddy, lie to me cult daddy, please lie again cult daddy...."





https://youtu.be/-3dhGL8EKGg?si=MoadFkFV9v4vkvxm

[Winehole23]

depriving the public of the honest services of their government is thematic in Trump 2.0

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:z6rujpf4u56jfie7aqic2nfg/bafkreiho4tw3bjn24z7fme2zjlds4goidakxukwctzy43nm6g u5hz2ggc4@jpeg

[Spurs Homer]

The best 12 minutes of news anywhere in this shit-hole fascist country...the tragedy here is that one day people will compare these 12 minutes to 10 years of FOX propaganda and 10 years of MSM complicitness...and say to themselves..."holee shit- if the MSM would have had the balls of these youtoobers that were fighting fascism- maybe the usa democracy would have survived"

*bonus points at the end when the last few seconds of Ted Crooze and his freudian slip regarding pedophiles is shown* lol

sadly...magats are the ones that need to be hit over the head with these truths...but that ship has sailed and they should just drink the poison already tbh.


https://youtu.be/dwrFY3Aaprw?si=0TXpkqQrVEDXX4NK

[Winehole23]

(R)s could nuke the filibuster and pass the budget with a simple majority right now -- why don't they?

Probably because they know their budget is a very destructive and unpopular pile of crap that they don't want to own all by themselves

[Winehole23]

official propaganda like this reminds everyone that the government is run by Republican ideologues


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:hbpefio3f5csc44msmbgioxz/bafkreiawn3hujhtiphxnsk7ypkszgpelysowemmgoi7u2owyr n3livapfm@jpeg

[Winehole23]

Republicans care more about Argentina than everybody

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4u3hwe3p7oy3hoy3amlw7rp2/bafkreie4vaxj7v42dfyxuhsexh5aarkb3mzz32nfysu5ttvks dcrawbvpi@jpeg

[Winehole23]

Trump cares more about his ballroom than the American people


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:z6rujpf4u56jfie7aqic2nfg/bafkreifl4uzyzvxpiyblpdtvp6x6fnblwqofo23zmquner3c4 k3nd4vgne@jpeg

[Winehole23]

is Trump not up to it or something?


Vice President JD Vance has an offer for Senate Democrats to end the government shutdown, he told “Fox and Friends” on Wednesday.

Join onto the Republicans’ continuing resolution, and he’ll head to the Capitol “right now” to work with Democrats on extending insurance subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, the line in the sand Democratic party leaders have drawn in the government funding fight.

“But only after they’ve reopened the government,” Vance said. “You can’t reward this exercise in hostage taking, which is what we would be doing if we allow the government opening to be conditional on the Democrats’ policy disagreement.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/01/vance-schumer-obamacare-premiums-shutdown-00589471

[Winehole23]

Trump owns the upcoming mass firings and benefit cuts



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:4ibal4ufwcfcg32o4x3vfdow/bafkreiadplht52jq4qmi6326c7ywiqqiczp33a2mf4r3zgqkc h2ebdwiga@jpeg

[Winehole23]

everyone takes it on the chin except for the Trumpy police state


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2tjnqjbnqampayvk4hez7q3h/bafkreiaut2cadityeryfb3ott6g2bqdc62stdusk3rtocac7x drgqi6nma@jpeg
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2tjnqjbnqampayvk4hez7q3h/bafkreihj5msje56sd57p3ryeqcrb3dqljxq6bb3buzgvc6o62 abpixty2a@jpeg

[Winehole23]

this is who's getting hit by Medicaid work requirements


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:dmopowukpuxjkjvvnsi4srit/bafkreibpmxekxufyi3atvlfvyqetxpobuyygop2zxbu77isgh qo3apcuei@jpeghttps://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2839637

[Winehole23]

Since when does the OMB chief operate like a legislative commissar, deciding which laws are ok and which aren't?


Russ does this reluctantly. He takes no pleasure in this. Russ has to sit down and decide which policies, personnel, & programs are essential & which are not. That's not a fun task and he's not enjoying that responsibility...if they keep the govt closed, it's gonna get more & more painful"

[Winehole23]

supine Republican majorities in Congress are giving away their power

[Winehole23]

now that's bipartisanship


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ov6zd7risdplxvivxmpsu5eu/bafkreiawp7sbqgpttyswt7ya3phexnn5qtz5bwphdqkskelz3 tr3i56jaa@jpeg

[Winehole23]

the Trump Administration is promoting disunion, but in the process he's going to hurt tens of millions of Republicans too


Russ Vought wants to slash funding to blue states that contribute just under half of GDP, are less likely to draw down federal resources on net and are home to almost 24 million people who voted for Trump. www.pbump.net/o/sorry-abou... (https://www.pbump.net/o/sorry-about-your-luck-24-million-trump-voters/)

[Winehole23]

Over 30% of Trump’s popular vote came from these states. He’s hurting 23.37 million of the 77.3 million ppl who voted for him.

The #3 and #4 states for Trump, in terms of pop vote? CA and NY.

[Blake]

Trump cares more about his ballroom than the American people


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:z6rujpf4u56jfie7aqic2nfg/bafkreifl4uzyzvxpiyblpdtvp6x6fnblwqofo23zmquner3c4 k3nd4vgne@jpeg

Every king needs a good ballroom

[Winehole23]

coercive funding is his whole deal

he'll probably find a way to steer even more money into his own pocket


“.. no modern American president has positioned his family to make so much money while in the White House. Already, since the early days of his reelection campaign, he’s more than doubled his net worth to about $5.4 billion.”

www.bloomberg.com/features/202... (https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-trump-family-presidency-wealth/)
https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:z6rujpf4u56jfie7aqic2nfg/bafkreide4yu3yih3zrv54grbcuwrpkx53bte4vceuylaocr76 vqoqmeosm@jpeg

[Winehole23]

in absolute terms, we're way past Mobutu/Marcos territory

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreigpg2jo3gh6rqpk34c4fnnvbwtrinra6hcl4tvvdzg2x eausucm5y@jpeg

[koriwhat]

Yall never bitched about either of Obama's terms, with shutdowns a plenty, nor Biden's bs term laundering our tax dollars to their new voter base of illegals and more. Yall leftists can cry into the void all yall want but no one gives one fuck about any of you weak males here online or irl. Yall are pathetic bitch males!

[ChumpDumper]

Republicans cause every shutdown. We bitch about it every time.

[Spurs Homer]

Dems are also fighting for magats healthcare because as stupid and brainwashed and hateful as they are -

dems are still hoping they dont die needlessly...and of course magats will hate dems even MORE for this...

amerikkka

[Winehole23]

(Mike Johnson extends the Republicans' vacation until the 14th)

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4lx6nur5wstwoc4wtgj56kyu/bafkreic6p4y3umoktdjmzqevi4jvsq6noa7w5xoi6adef33m4 tcgmqnwh4@jpeg

[Winehole23]

looks like the narrative isn't sinking in


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ke6f766al4swdugyvmvyipuo/bafkreidymkhmgrxspjyeukr65knfduc3y3zthikzq46jwwshc hyqjjtps4@jpeg

[Winehole23]

MAGA promotes disunion but, ~24 million Republican voters live in the targeted states



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2amnkge5a6hplfwyesmxqkfl/bafkreib3dqtnczurwd5morephpdfrcdryzrtcpi4s2stf2uqv xlepmpofi@jpeg

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:2amnkge5a6hplfwyesmxqkfl/bafkreigtfwck6pvtdwye4hlzqedohwzwzraseegel3jr342ns olmwc4u6a@jpeg
https://newrepublic.com/article/201286/republican-admits-trump-shutdown-cuts-hurt-maga-voters

[Spurs Homer]

looks like the narrative isn't sinking in




https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ke6f766al4swdugyvmvyipuo/bafkreidymkhmgrxspjyeukr65knfduc3y3zthikzq46jwwshc hyqjjtps4@jpeg



notice how high those republi-kunt "not sure" are?

those are the "not sure how cult daddy prefers that I vote?"

[Winehole23]

about 75% of ACA enrollees live in red states


This is a remarkable statistic: 18.7 million out of the 24.3 million Obamacare enrollees are in states won by President Trump in 2024.
www.kff.org/quick-take/m

[Winehole23]

(I've still got you on ignore, Spurs Homer)

[Winehole23]

vibe shift?


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cf26plxwia7dxpm6plry3sj2/bafkreid7epupjiu7o6afvkwhz4fj2qtwjcajko3p6lr3yknco xjgpjm4ve@jpeg

[UNT Eagles 2016]

Illegals and immigrants in general who aren't native born citizens should never have equal footing in terms of ANY taxpayer benefits, that's it and that's all.

The american dream is never for the first generation immigrants, it was always for their children and future generations born on U.S. Soil.

[Winehole23]

well, fortunately we don't live in UNT Eagles 2016 world anymore

[ChumpDumper]

Illegals and immigrants in general who aren't native born citizens should never have equal footing in terms of ANY taxpayer benefits, that's it and that's all.

The american dream is never for the first generation immigrants, it was always for their children and future generations born on U.S. Soil.

What benefits are you even talking about?

[Winehole23]

Since when does the OMB chief operate like a legislative commissar, deciding which laws are ok and which aren't?


In the American system of government, a legislature of the people’s elected representatives decide how to allocate the people’s money, then an unelected appointee in the executive branch called “OMB Director” decides if he feels like distributing the people’s money that way or if he’d rather not.

[Winehole23]

insurance regulators sound the alarm


"The window is rapidly closing," says Jon Godfread (https://www.insurance.nd.gov/about-us/commissioner-jon-godfread), North Dakota's insurance commissioner. He says the enhanced subsidies need to be extended before open enrollment starts Nov. 1. "Let's do this now."


If lawmakers miss that deadline, he says, "it's going to be really, really challenging to go back [to consumers] and say, 'OK, now we fixed it, please come back and shop at this market that you were priced out of.' I just don't believe consumers are going to do that."
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/10/04/nx-s1-5562517/aca-obamacare-shutdown-trump-naic-health-insurance

[Blake]

Illegals and immigrants in general who aren't native born citizens should never have equal footing in terms of ANY taxpayer benefits, that's it and that's all.

The american dream is never for the first generation immigrants, it was always for their children and future generations born on U.S. Soil.

So basically you're good with anchor babies

[Spurs Homer]

(I've still got you on ignore, Spurs Homer)


me?

wtf?

oh well...

[Winehole23]

Russ Vought wants to screw furloughed workers during the shutdown

That he thinks he can evade the relevant law by removing the reference to it in the OMB internal guidance document is hilarious


After Government Executive reached out to the White House about the change on Monday evening, Axios on Tuesday reported (https://www.axios.com/2025/10/07/trump-memo-furloughed-federal-workers-backpay) that senior administration officials were developing guidance that furloughed federal workers are not entitled to back pay. The White House officials said it would take a novel interpretation of the back pay law and argue it applied only to the 2019 shutdown.


The 2019 back pay measure—which Trump signed into law—explicitly stated that it applied to any employee furloughed during “any lapse in appropriations that begins on or after December 22, 2018.” Previously, Congress had to affirmatively pass legislation after each shutdown to ensure furloughed workers were retroactively paid.


More than 620,000 employees are currently furloughed, a number that will continue to climb (https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/10/more-employees-set-receive-furlough-notices-shutdown-drags/408629/?oref=ge-author-river) as the shutdown drags on.
https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2025/10/omb-deletes-reference-law-guaranteeing-backpay-furloughed-feds-shutdown-guidance/408645/

[Winehole23]

running the USA like one of Trump's shitbird companies


It's true that in previous shutdowns, many or most furloughed employees have been paid for the time they were furloughed, but there is new legal analysis - I don't know the details, I just saw a headline - but there are some legal analysts saying that might not be appropriate or necessary

[Winehole23]

the word they're dancing around is sickout

I'm sure Trump and Duffy would like to discipline people, but air traffic controllers aren't replaceable at will


DOT Secretary Sean Duffy said some controllers are calling in sick as the shutdown, now in its seventh day, adds stress on workers. He estimated staffing has at times dropped to 50% in some areas.


"If we don't have controllers, we're going to make sure the airspace is safe. So what we do is we'll slow traffic," Duffy said on Tuesday.https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx27z97ryr0o

[Winehole23]

your tax dollars pay for partisan propaganda from demented bigots


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hh5jcwwyhhyimbiw7sgcwowq/bafkreigbdfhyyuie4hnoabykfiprtv7dlgp2p6k75fjsdmn55 o3i4wy7z4@jpeg

[Spurs Homer]

18 out of the 24 million who are about to get fucked on healthcare - are republicans.
(Top 10 states to see mammoth increases- ALL RED STATES - Texas #6)

I don't have any faith the Dems will hold the line - and I hate to see people suffering no matter their party...
but this would be a time to hold the line and allow these red state fux to FAFO.

Maybe the cult spell would splinter a bit when a normal red hat couple making 85k a year and spending 7k in health care suddenly get a 25k yearly health care bill.

[Blake]

me?

wtf?

oh well...

Lol

[Blake]

18 out of the 24 million who are about to get fucked on healthcare - are republicans.
(Top 10 states to see mammoth increases- ALL RED STATES - Texas #6)

I don't have any faith the Dems will hold the line - and I hate to see people suffering no matter their party...
but this would be a time to hold the line and allow these red state fux to FAFO.

Maybe the cult spell would splinter a bit when a normal red hat couple making 85k a year and spending 7k in health care suddenly get a 25k yearly health care bill.

The republicans will all blame the democrats for their high health care bill and the Trump tards will all believe them.

[Spurs Homer]

The republicans will all blame the democrats for their high health care bill and the Trump tards will all believe them.


BIDENS FAULT! OBAMA!

[Blake]

your tax dollars pay for partisan propaganda from demented bigots


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:hh5jcwwyhhyimbiw7sgcwowq/bafkreigbdfhyyuie4hnoabykfiprtv7dlgp2p6k75fjsdmn55 o3i4wy7z4@jpeg

Smh they'll repost this on fox and all the tards will nod and laugh along

[Blake]

BIDENS FAULT! OBAMA!

Every time

[koriwhat]

Smh they'll repost this on fox and all the tards will nod and laugh along

We'll wait until you leftist trash post the FOX video here on ST like yall always do while claiming we all watch FOX News. :lmao

[ChumpDumper]

^consumes Tim Pool daily

[Winehole23]

Smh they'll repost this on fox and all the tards will nod and laugh alongGovernment's closed, but Homeland Security shitposters are still on the clock

[UNT Eagles 2016]

What benefits are you even talking about?
state medicaid, state welfare, federal and state healthcare, TANF and housing benefits, CHIP

[ChumpDumper]

state medicaid, state welfare, federal and state healthcare, TANF and housing benefits, CHIP

Oh, so you're just being stupid.

Citizens are citizens and you'll have to amend the constitution to change that.

Good luck.

[Winehole23]

Republicans currently on vacation worry about the optics


During a private conference call with House Republicans Thursday, at least three lawmakers raised concerns about keeping the House out of session after it passed a stopgap funding bill that never made its way through the Senate, sources told MSNBC (https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/private-call-fissures-gop-shutdown-strategy-rcna236697).

California Representative Jay Obernolte warned that staying home would make it seem like Republicans were “prioritizing politics over government.”

“I think we’re gonna get to a point where it’s damaging to continue to keep the House out of session,” he said.

Oklahoma Representative Stephanie Bice said she had “concerns” about lawmakers staying in their districts during the government shutdown, and that constituents probably “wonder why we’re not there,” according to one source. She warned leadership to imagine the optics of staying home next week, when lawmakers could just as easily deliver messaging from Washington.

North Dakota Representative Julie Fedorchak expressed a similar sentiment, arguing that their messaging would be stronger and more consistent if they weren’t all working from home.

Some Republicans have already voiced their disapproval publicly.

California Representative Kevin Kiley fumed at the speaker’s comment (https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1975932603887964501) Thursday, claiming that the House would likely remain out of session for another week because “we’ve already done our job.”

“What the House has done is pass a 7-week Continuing Resolution. The entire reason a CR is necessary is that Congress has not done its job in passing a timely budget,” Kiley wrote on X (https://x.com/KevinKileyCA/status/1975985243770454306). “The Speaker shouldn’t even think about cancelling session for a third straight week.”

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has found herself (https://newrepublic.com/post/201548/marjorie-taylor-greene-republican-party-donald-trump-shutdown)at odds with party leadership (https://newrepublic.com/post/201548/marjorie-taylor-greene-republican-party-donald-trump-shutdown), has slammed (https://newrepublic.com/post/201552/marjorie-taylor-greene-mike-johnson-democrats-grijalva-epstein) Johnson all week for sending lawmakers home.

“I think he should really bring the House back in session for many reasons. We have appropriation bills that need to get passed. There is a new Democrat that’s been elected that does deserve to be sworn in. Her district elected her. We have other bills that we need to be passing,” Greene told CNN Thursday. “Any serious speaker of the House is going to build consensus within his conference behind a plan. It’s not something secret that gets worked on in a committee.”
https://newrepublic.com/maz/post/201618/republicans-rebel-mike-johnson-shutdown

[BadMotorscooter]

Oh, so you're just being stupid.

Citizens are citizens and you'll have to amend the constitution to change that.

Good luck.

lmao....dumbass.

[Winehole23]

shutdown RIFs likely illegal, TRO issues

h/t, Chris Geidner



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreihsfi34ys6i5yva4ssixk46px6f4orx6rj5wbavuuudd 5imbije7i@jpeghttps://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.457131/gov.uscourts.cand.457131.56.0_1.pdf

[Winehole23]

what is the legal authority for Russ Vaught to shut down agencies created by US statutes?

https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/white-house-budget-director-vought-says-over-10000-federal-workers-could-be-laid-2025-10-15/

[Winehole23]

shutdown RIFs likely illegal, TRO issues

h/t, Chris Geidner


https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.457131/gov.uscourts.cand.457131.56.0_1.pdfdeclining to argue the merits at your own hearing is certainly a choice


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:24vva42nxim6zbcmnozegoef/bafkreigv3eh3wmdkz4viizzchwfacczse4sqlgrgkxwqleziy 7j343cn64@jpeg

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wjhxp4oknes5xvkbnvpjyafh/bafkreidcfcq4tx3ewgpah4zsdvua2y6j7rgfoney7h7gqq6cf wdovmoysy@jpeg

[Winehole23]

lack of leadership

long defensive crouch



Mike Johnson called us back (https://bsky.app/profile/seancasten.bsky.social/post/3m3bewj5u6k2c) from July 4 recess on 7/3 so he could gut Americans’ healthcare in the Big Ugly bill. Since then, he has only had the House in session for 19 of the subsequent 104 days. That’s how we ended up here.

[Winehole23]

Next voting day is 10/27

Mike Johnson extends the Republican vacation from official duties during the shutdown

[Winehole23]

besides the fact that impoundment is illegal, Trump is promoting disunion by choking off money to states that didn't vote for him

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/17/vought-budget-government-shutdown.html

[Winehole23]

^^^ this is robbery, btw

NY contributes billions more to the US Treasury than it receives

[koriwhat]

your tax dollars pay for partisan propaganda from demented bigots

https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2226400-nina-jankowicz.jpg?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1

And we see what the left does with our taxes as they fund all their money laundering schemes world wide promoting their degeneracy and shit marxist ideology.

[GAustex]

The left are some grifting mofos.
Shameless grifters

[ChumpDumper]

The left are some grifting mofos.
Shameless griftersDo you have a degree from Trump University?

[Winehole23]

Last workday in Congress was 9/19

Mike Johnson has effectively disbanded Congress so Trump can continue to trample the law and the American people who he hates so much

[Winehole23]

The left are some grifting mofos.
Shameless griftersy'all control all three branches

the ringing is coming from inside the house

[Winehole23]

the blunderbuss is aimed in the general direction of red states. states like Texas that declined to expand medicare are especially vulnerable



Some 22 million Americans are set to lose health insurance subsidies by the end of the year. Who are they, and what will happen if the subsidies are allowed to expire?



These subsidies, known as enhanced premium tax credits, lower costs for people who buy their health insurance through Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces (sometimes called Obamacare). They are at the heart of a weeks-long standoff (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/01/democrats-republicans-government-shutdown-health-care/) that has shuttered the federal government since Oct. 1. About 80 percent of the people who benefit from them live in states (https://www.kff.org/quick-take/more-than-3-in-4-aca-marketplace-enrollees-live-in-states-won-by-president-trump-in-2024/) that Donald Trump won in the 2024 presidential election.


www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/prescriptionsforabrokensystem/117991

[GAustex]

y'all control all three branches

the ringing is coming from inside the house

You cannot change the narrative grifter

[Winehole23]

You cannot change the narrative grifterwhat, that Chick Schumer is running this country now?

:lol

[GAustex]

what, that Chick Schumer is running this country now?

:lol
Keep it up loser
That is why you are losing
Loser

[Winehole23]

^^^ only losers talk this way

[Millennial_Messiah]

I just want the shutdown to end ASAP this month just so the crypto spot ETFs (particularly ADA, LINK, AVAX etc) can and will be approved along with the Clarity Act.

[Winehole23]

I just want the shutdown to end ASAP this month just so the crypto spot ETFs (particularly ADA, LINK, AVAX etc) can and will be approved along with the Clarity Act.all Mike Johnson has to to do gavel Congress in session and start proposing laws

[ChumpDumper]

You cannot change the narrative grifter

Trump stole from his own charity.

Do you not know about his grifts?

Serious question. You seem to be incredibly ignorant.

[Millennial_Messiah]

all Mike Johnson has to to do gavel Congress in session and start proposing laws

what again is the legal reasoning and basis for not swearing in Adela Grijalva the late Raul's daughter who was democratically re-elected last November? i don't get that one.

[ChumpDumper]

what again is the legal reasoning and basis for not swearing in Adela Grijalva the late Raul's daughter who was democratically re-elected last November? i don't get that one.They want to prevent the legal release of the Epstein files.

[Winehole23]

what again is the legal reasoning and basis for not swearing in Adela Grijalva the late Raul's daughter who was democratically re-elected last November? i don't get that one.raw power

no legal basis afaik

[Millennial_Messiah]

They want to prevent the legal release of the Epstein files.

i don't see how that one vote would change that, but it seems stupid. and the Epstein stuff was largely a right wing talking point from 2021-2024 and a nonzero part of why Trump won. That the Democrats and their elites were the ones covering up the Epstein files. At this point just release the files and relieve the stress like they did with Dobbs in 2022.

[ChumpDumper]

i don't see how that one vote would change that, but it seems stupid.Hers would be the deciding vote to release the Epstein files.

You seriously do not know this?


and the Epstein stuff was largely a right wing talking point from 2021-2024 and a nonzero part of why Trump won.

No shit. Do you now wonder why Republicans are so hell bent on keeping those files hidden?


That the Democrats and their elites were the ones covering up the Epstein files.

Turns out they were lying. All 214 Democrats in the House have voted to release the Epstein files. Only four (4) House Republicans have joined them.


At this point just release the files and relieve the stress like they did with Dobbs in 2022.

Trump and 98% of the Republican House want them to remain hidden from you.

[Millennial_Messiah]

Hers would be the deciding vote to release the Epstein files.

You seriously do not know this?



No shit. Do you now wonder why Republicans are so hell bent on keeping those files hidden?



Turns out they were lying. All 214 Democrats in the House have voted to release the Epstein files. Only four (4) House Republicans have joined them.



Trump and 98% of the Republican House want them to remain hidden from you.

wouldn't 218 be enough since it's the majority? the House can't filibuster, right? Would then the Senate need to vote on it?

I mean, the Dem coalition have done SOME good things, like eliminating the stupid WEP retirement penalty crap, but the fact that they always vote in lockstep for the last several cycles makes them seem like the scarier cult of the two parties. You just don't have maverick Democrats anymore.

[Blake]

Why are these Trump tards so stupid and ignorant? Serious question. Where do you tards get your news from?

[Blake]

wouldn't 218 be enough since it's the majority? the House can't filibuster, right? Would then the Senate need to vote on it?

I mean, the Dem coalition have done SOME good things, like eliminating the stupid WEP retirement penalty crap, but the fact that they always vote in lockstep for the last several cycles makes them seem like the scarier cult of the two parties. You just don't have maverick Democrats anymore.

What do you care? You like dictators.

[Millennial_Messiah]

What do you care? You like dictators.

I mean I believe the concept of an empire is more sustainable for the long term stability and health of a nation than the constitutional republic (see Rome), but that isn't the current reality of the situation, so I'm basing my posts on current reality.

It would likely take some kind of armed conflict and civil war for the USA to sunset democracy and convert from a republic to an empire, under Trump or whoever else, the right-wing side definitely has more military power, guns, gun experience, and might and will to do violence and to do it and win such a conflict than the left does, but i'd still say there's a <20% chance of it actually happening by 2050, even if I'd endorse it.

[Blake]

I mean I believe the concept of an empire is more sustainable for the long term stability and health of a nation than the constitutional republic (see Rome), but that isn't the current reality of the situation, so I'm basing my posts on current reality.

It would likely take some kind of armed conflict and civil war for the USA to sunset democracy and convert from a republic to an empire, under Trump or whoever else, the right-wing side definitely has more military power, guns, gun experience, and might and will to do violence and to do it and win such a conflict than the left does, but i'd still say there's a <20% chance of it actually happening by 2050, even if I'd endorse it.

The current reality is that we have a dictator. You like that. You're a tory.

[Winehole23]

When are Mike Johnson and the Republican majority going to start governining?

Extreme Congressional deference to Trump is hollowing out legislative power, if Congress doesn't seize it back soon, there might not be much left

[Winehole23]

Someone suggested Rs are hoping Trump dies before they have to release the Epstein files

I would not be surprised if Rs are gameplanning a false flag hit on Trump. He's off the rails.

[Winehole23]

I want to say the threat that a demented, diminished Trump currently poses to Republican Party power is underrated, but Mike Johnson just extended the Republican vacation from governing for the fifth week in a row

:lol

[koriwhat]

I want to say the threat that a demented, diminished Trump currently poses to Republican Party power is underrated, but Mike Johnson just extended the Republican vacation from governing for the fifth week in a row

:lol

The more bureaucrats fired, the better! The more worthless gov entities closed, the better!

What are you arguing for exactly, bigGov?

[koriwhat]

When are Mike Johnson and the Republican majority going to start governining?

Extreme Congressional deference to Trump is hollowing out legislative power, if Congress doesn't seize it back soon, there might not be much left

GOOD.

[ChumpDumper]

Joey is pro-Kings.

[Winehole23]

The more bureaucrats fired, the better! The more worthless gov entities closed, the better!

What are you arguing for exactly, bigGov?the spending power belongs to Congress. Congress is getting trampled by Trump.

[Winehole23]

Impoundment is per se unconstitutional and impeachable

[koriwhat]

the spending power belongs to Congress. Congress is getting trampled by Trump.

Yeah, and all those hacks in suits have been laundering and wasting our taxes for decades now. Fuck them all!

[ChumpDumper]

:lol Joey just posts buzzwords

[Winehole23]

Republican mad libs

[Winehole23]

these are the stakes of letting ACA subsidies expire

Republican death panel presiding


researchers have estimated that the end of enhanced tax credits will lead to 7.3 mill people losing their ACA coverage in 2026, of whom 4.8 mill would become uninsured. The loss of the additional subsidies are projected to increase how much...enrollees must pay...from an avg of $888 to $1,904/yearhttps://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2025/oct/expiring-premium-tax-credits-lead-340000-jobs-lost-2026

[Winehole23]

MAGA continues to defend the elite pedo ring

Why?

[Winehole23]

being anti-government is fine and all until you are the government

DJT rails at the "failing" 119th Congress


“I can’t see into the future, but I see Republicans losing the House if Americans are continuing to go paycheck-to-paycheck,” the lawmaker told Semafor in an interview Monday (https://www.semafor.com/article/10/20/2025/marjorie-taylor-greene-delivers-her-harshest-warning-yet).

Voters will “definitely be going into the midterms looking through the lens of their bank account,” she said.

Greene argued that health care “should be the No. 1 thing that we’re working on,” predicting it will be “one of the top issues” in the 2026 midterms.

Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies are due to expire at the end of the year, and if Republicans and Democrats don’t overcome their stalemate, premiums will more than double (https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/aca-marketplace-premium-payments-would-more-than-double-on-average-next-year-if-enhanced-premium-tax-credits-expire/), on average, for over 20 million people.

Greene then suggested Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had not delivered on a “so-called Republican plan” to iron out America’s health care woes.

“Mike Johnson is at the press conferences every morning saying that we’ve got pages and pages, or we’ve got a Republican plan — yet I haven’t seen one single page of the so-called Republican plan,” she continued. “I haven’t heard one single GOP conference call on this issue.”

“It’s like, where is it?” Greene added. “The Republican Party is failing.”

In an Oct. 6 X post (https://x.com/RepMTG/status/1975337063697555652), Greene railed at the GOP over health care.

“I’m not towing the party line on this, or playing loyalty games. … I’m carving my own lane,” she wrote. “Not a single Republican in leadership talked to us about this or has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING!!!”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marjorie-taylor-greene-republicans-lose-house_n_68f66088e4b09d351b449b1d

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xxcbvm4arpbg2icwxxhhhul7/bafkreia3hk75pfvgbil226376mjeogfvpw4y3kjqyacl2lake h262hhehy@jpeg

[Winehole23]

if Republicans continue to refuse to govern, 42 million Americans (including 16 million children) will not receive food stamps starting Nov 1st

Merry Christmas, y'all

[Winehole23]

Sh!tbird shakedown artist announces he will attempt to shake down the US taxpayer for $230 million, to defray the cost of defending his various violations of the US constitution and the law

Some of the officials who would have to approve are Trump's former defense lawyers


President Trump wants $230 million from the Justice Department for investigating him, people familiar with the matter say. Any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit. nyti.ms/4hmIi5X

[Winehole23]

Government has taken 70 out of the last 80 or so days off and got paid for all of them

Do nothing 119th Congress, tbh

[Winehole23]

Withholding the honest services of legislation and oversight like Mike Johnson is doing ought to be impeachable

[Winehole23]

They're letting Trump trample the law and the people

[koriwhat]

Government has taken 70 out of the last 80 or so days off and got paid for all of them

Do nothing 119th Congress, tbh

Like all of Congress the past how many decades? They're all worthless and always have been but only now you're noticing and bitching about them? GTFOH!

[koriwhat]

They're letting Trump trample the law and the people

More hyperbole from ST's #1 retard, WH.

[Winehole23]

Like all of Congress the past how many decades? They're all worthless and always have been but only now you're noticing and bitching about them? GTFOH!no, they're not all the same

you're just a lazy cynic

[Winehole23]

More hyperbole from ST's #1 retard, WH.no, I think my post was more or less straightforward and accurate

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ekts44pfepbmryv2h633onqu/bafkreifh5iz5tgsikfbp4csdr3acxfnv67qoxafzq6qoqnfct ji2evqnqy@jpeg

[Winehole23]

Sh!tbird shakedown artist announces he will attempt to shake down the US taxpayer for $230 million, to defray the cost of defending his various violations of the US constitution and the law

Some of the officials who would have to approve are Trump's former defense lawyers

nyti.ms/4hmIi5Xthe DOJ is taxpayer funded


Trump: "It's awfully strange to make a decision where I'm paying myself. But I was damaged very greatly and any money I would get I would give to charity."

[ChumpDumper]

Like all of Congress the past how many decades? They're all worthless and always have been but only now you're noticing and bitching about them? GTFOH!

Government shutdowns are all Republican. It's what they do.

[Winehole23]

subsidizing Argentine ranchers now



*US SEEKS TO QUADRUPLE BEEF PURCHASES FROM ARGENTINA: POLITICO

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:dnacsxh4tk6zqxhyt5i7hahh/bafkreigl2hjusaqkhx6xpmvhjpyvedmqxlcw42kksoz2lgqbe gyp42tnsq@jpeg

[Winehole23]

apparently this is the Republican plan



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:quksawtmkzb3yysbjjbcnurd/bafkreiboae4urixrp2o57yvohftmx72idr6tbtkzupvc6p7nr ejdzgrb74@jpeg