The Wall

[GoCubsGo]

(Tillis response)

Dear Mr. Bannination

Thank you for taking the time to contact me about the partial government shutdown. I appreciate hearing from you.

As you may know, on December 19, 2018, the Senate passed a continuing resolution to temporarily fund the government until February 8, 2019. However, this measure was not considered by the House of Representatives, as President Trump stated he would not sign the legislation if his request of $5.6 billion for border security was not included. Subsequently, the House of Representatives considered a spending bill which included President Trump's request for funds to update physical barriers and infrastructure along the border. This updated spending bill was then sent back to the Senate for consideration, but failed to gain the support needed from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

On December 22, 2018, twenty-five percent of the federal government had a lapse of funding and shutdown. In an effort to keep the government open, I voted for both spending bills considered in the Senate; however, the inability to not reach a bipartisan consensus on this commonsense issue has resulted in a partial government shutdown. I am disappointed to see that my colleagues, many of who have voted for border security funding in the past, could not support President Trump's reasonable request. The funding request would have updated existing infrastructure and allow for additional security at some of our most dangerous spots along the border.

With that said, throughout 2018, Congress has worked on a bipartisan basis to pass appropriations bills that fund 75% of the federal government. These appropriation bills include funding for the Department of Defense, Energy and Water Development, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, the Legislative Branch, and Labor, Health, and Human Services, and Education. These measures alone fund $900 billion out of a $1.2 trillion budget and together mark the most spending bills enacted on time in over two decades.

While I am happy to see that Congress is getting back into the habit of passing appropriations bills on time in order to fulfill its duties, it is critical that Republicans and Democrats work together to reach a compromise to re-open the government as soon as possible. Please know providing long-term appropriations bills for the portion of the government that is currently not funded is very important to me, and I will continue to be engaged on this issue to ensure there is a path forward.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me again about other important issues.

Sincerely,

Nice to know his interns can articulate the obvious.

[billy.pilgrim]

This is the longest government shutdown in US history. With no federal food safety inspections, limited access to USDA loan programs for farmers, and climate and environmental research at a standstill, our food system — and all of us — are at risk. Our health and safety are on the line. And for what? We don’t need a border wall. We do need a safe, fair, and just food system for all.

Urge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to end the shutdown, today.

Understand that you are urging the same shit who set out to destroy a president a few years back and refused to consider that president's constitutional nomination for SC because that nomination would have received the required 60 votes and who then changed senate rules to push through with a mere majority a right winger and another political operative shit who had lied under oath to Congress and who had engaged in a felony receiving stolen information from democratic senators.

I plan on using my time to write a letter to the squirrels in my back yard requesting that the stop teasing my dog.
Then on to reasoning with the bluejay who keeps chasing the little birds away from the wife's bird feeder.

[GoCubsGo]

This is the longest government shutdown in US history. With no federal food safety inspections, limited access to USDA loan programs for farmers, and climate and environmental research at a standstill, our food system — and all of us — are at risk. Our health and safety are on the line. And for what? We don’t need a border wall. We do need a safe, fair, and just food system for all.

Urge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to end the shutdown, today.

Understand that you are urging the same shit who set out to destroy a president a few years back and refused to consider that president's constitutional nomination for SC because that nomination would have received the required 60 votes and who then changed senate rules to push through with a mere majority a right winger and another political operative shit who had lied under oath to Congress and who had engaged in a felony receiving stolen information from democratic senators.

I plan on using my time to write a letter to the squirrels in my back yard requesting that the stop teasing my dog.
Then on to reasoning with the bluejay who keeps chasing the little birds away from the wife's bird feeder.

Besides, turtle head is deep in his hidey hole somewhere in the capitol and ain't coming out until the coast is clear.

[Vrede too]

It's not about moral or patriotic persuasion, it's about adding to political pressure. The squirrels and bluejay would pay attention if they knew your letter was backed up with a pellet gun.

[billy.pilgrim]

It's not about moral or patriotic persuasion, it's about adding to political pressure. The squirrels and bluejay would pay attention if they knew your letter was backed up with a pellet gun.

They know that I wouldn't harm them.

Funny that the 29 year old rep went searching for mitch in the cloakroom and a bunch of other where's Waldo type places.
I'm all for a TV series Where's Mitch. Contestants could guess different places for turtle related prizes. The winner gets a quart of my soft-shell turtle soup - they were endangered for a while, but probably less so than Mitch.

[GoCubsGo]

It's not about moral or patriotic persuasion, it's about adding to political pressure. The squirrels and bluejay would pay attention if they knew your letter was backed up with a pellet gun.

They know that I wouldn't harm them.

Funny that the 29 year old rep went searching for mitch in the cloakroom and a bunch of other where's Waldo type places.
I'm all for a TV series Where's Mitch. Contestants could guess different places for turtle related prizes. The winner gets a quart of my soft-shell turtle soup - they were endangered for a while, but probably less so than Mitch.

[GoCubsGo]

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
28m
I will be making a major announcement concerning the Humanitarian Crisis on our Southern Border, and the Shutdown, tomorrow afternoon at 3 P.M., live from the @WhiteHouse.

Well, here comes the National Emergency, the only way out to save any sort of face. Let the court battles begin.

[neoplacebo]

Hilarious.....saw a story today from ABC about a couple dozen asylum seekers dug under part of the existing wall. I think it was Arizona, not sure.

[Vrede too]

Hilarious.....saw a story today from ABC about a couple dozen asylum seekers dug under part of the existing wall. I think it was Arizona, not sure.

376.

Largest single group of migrants ever tunnels under border wall in Arizona, says Border Protection


PHOTO: Seven tunnels were dug underneath the border wall near Yuma, Arizona, on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, as a record group of migrants entered the U.S. (Yuma Sector Border Patrol)

[neoplacebo]

Opps...didn't remember there being that many; the story also said some went over the wall as well. It was the over and under play.

[bannination]

[GoCubsGo]

Don't forget:

[Vrede too]

[GoCubsGo]

[Vrede too]

I don't think this will work, though:

Texas Republican Lawmaker Says Donald Trump is Confecting an Immigration Crisis 'Myth'

On the 28th day of the partial government shutdown, Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd called Donald Trump’s claims of a crisis on the southern U.S.-Mexico border a “myth.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone on Friday, Hurd described the hype around illegal border crossings as a “myth” and slammed the president’s proposed border wall, calling it a “third-century solution to a 21st-century problem.”

“What I always say is building a wall from sea to shining sea is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security,” Hurd said, before noting that the “first step” in dealing with a border crisis should be to pay the officials enforcing immigration laws....

Texas’ 23rd Congressional District is home to 820 miles of border between El Paso and San Antonio, making Hurd the only Republican lawmaker representing a border district....

According to a Politico/Morning Consult poll, released earlier this month, around 42 percent of Americans voters believe that there’s a “crisis” at the U.S.-Mexico border, while another 37 percent agree that illegal crossings are a “problem” but not as severe as the president has claimed.

Companies Building Border Wall Want Trump to Defend Them From Backlash

onstruction companies that are helping build President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall want the Justice Department to protect them if several cities go ahead with their plan to stop doing business with any company involved in the controversial project....

They might succeed in spitting on the 1st Amendment right to boycott given the success of the repression of the Israel BDS movement. This will have broader implications than just wall builders. For example, lots of entities boycott firms involve in nuclear weapons production.

[bannination]

Most Americans would rather spend the $5 billion Trump is demanding for the border wall on infrastructure, education, or healthcare

Yep.... no doubt. Seems obvious.

[O Really]

If you're taking bids for construction projects, you're going to ask for references/examples. I've had construction industry clients over the years and part of their pitch is always a brochure of what they've done, awards they've won, if any, and hopefully something to distinguish them from the competition. And if they built something the prospect didn't like, it absolutely has an effect on being selected. But if I were running the bid process, there's no doubt I could cut out the wall builders if I wanted, but I don't know that I would. If part of Trump's wall was just another picture in a bunch of other walls and structures, I'd probably figure their participation in Trump's wall wasn't particularly political. But if they featured it and showed up with MAGA hats, they're not gonna get the job.

[Vrede too]

I think this is mostly about discouraging participation in construction, thus hindering it or driving up costs. Thus, exactly how it's implemented after the fact won't be so important.

[neoplacebo]

I think this is mostly about discouraging participation in construction, thus hindering it or driving up costs. Thus, exactly how it's implemented after the fact won't be so important.

I wonder how Trumpettes would feel if he gets his wall and ends up PAYING Mexican nationals to build it.....now that's some shrewd negotiating; first saying they would pay for it themselves and now us paying them to build it. I think it would be appropriate since just about everything else the dubmass says is pretty much 180 degrees from truth.

[Vrede too]

Supreme Court's inaction leaves DACA program for young migrants intact for now

The fate of the Dreamers – more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children – is not in jeopardy this year due to the Supreme Court's inaction.

The justices Tuesday did not agree to give the Trump administration one last chance to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which protects those immigrants from deportation and grants them work permits.

President Donald Trump's effort has been on hold for a year following a federal district judge's nationwide injunction. In November, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld that ruling, chastising the administration for targeting "blameless and economically productive young people with clean criminal records."

The Justice Department had asked the Supreme Court to intervene even before the most recent ruling. But with its inaction, the court let slip any chance the case can be heard during the current term, which ends in June....

Dolt .45 just lost the largest part of the wall "compromise" he offered. SCOTUS saved DACA for the moment, no need for the Dems to do so. Ha!